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sixteenth part

sixteenth part

2.7
One of sixteen equal parts of a whole
  • noun
  • /sɪkˈstiːnθ pɑrt/
translation icon : dieciseisavo
  • A sixteenth part of the cake was left over.

Examples

  • Only a sixteenth part of the land was suitable for farming.

  • Each student received a sixteenth part of the total score.

  • A sixteenth part of the vote was all he needed to qualify.

  • She added a sixteenth part of salt to balance the recipe precisely.

  • A sixteenth part of the cake was reserved for the birthday celebration.

  • To make the recipe work, you should use only a sixteenth part of the measure.

  • He contributed a sixteenth part of the total funds for the project.

Synonyms

sixteenth
vssixteenth part
4 1.0

One of sixteen parts of something that are the same size

is often given as the numeric fraction 1/16 rather than the word
one-sixteenth
vssixteenth part
1 3.2

One of sixteen equal parts of a whole

is the same meaning but uses the word form not numerals

How Small

sixteenth part
2.7
eighth
36 1.0
to quarter
5 2.1
half
1.0
whole
484 1.0

Surface Forms

Morphology

sixteenth + part

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from 'sixteenth' (one of sixteen equal shares) combined with 'part' (a portion of a whole); together they straightforwardly denote the fraction 1/16. This numeric + noun composition is a regular, compositional pattern found across languages and will be clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.

Etymology

The term sixteenth part comes from the image of cutting a cake into sixteen equal slices. Each slice is a sixteenth part, so the phrase means 'one of sixteen equal divisions' or '1/16'.