nineteen

nineteen — noun

1. the number that comes between eighteen and twenty; the written symbol 19.

1.nounA1
Definition

the number that comes between eighteen and twenty; the written symbol 19.

Example

Pim wrote the number nineteen on the whiteboard for the math quiz.

the number nineteen as a symbol

Greta thinks nineteen is a wonderful age to start learning the guitar.

Common collocations
  • number nineteen
  • lucky nineteen
  • the number nineteen

Usage Note

As a noun, nineteen refers to the abstract number or its written form. Use the number sense (nineteen + noun) when specifying a quantity.

Common Mistakes

She is ninty years old.
She is ninety years old.
'ninety' (90) sounds similar to 'nineteen' (19) but means a very different number. Learners often confuse the two.
I have nineteen book.
I have nineteen books.
when 'nineteen' is used as a determiner, the following noun must be plural.
Idioms

talk nineteen to the dozen

idiom

to speak very quickly and without stopping, often with great excitement or energy.

Grandma could talk nineteen to the dozen once she started telling stories about her childhood in the village.

Mira was so excited about her trip that she talked nineteen to the dozen all through dinner.

nineteen — number

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Nineteen and the number 19 refer to the same value and can be used interchangeably as nouns (say nineteen out loud vs. say the number 19 out loud). The spelled-out form nineteen is preferred in formal writing, while 19 is common in tables, addresses, and informal notes. The ordinal nineteenth (e.g., the nineteenth person) indicates position in a sequence, not quantity. Use nineteenth for order (the nineteenth floor) and nineteen for count (nineteen floors).

nineteen ↗the number 19nineteenth ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • the number nineteen
  • nineteen out of twenty

Prepositions

  • up to nineteen
  • at nineteen

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishModern English

Nineteen comes from the Old English word nigontiene, which was formed by combining nigon (nine) and tien (ten), literally meaning 'nine and ten'. Over centuries of use, the spelling and pronunciation shifted through Middle English nynetene to the modern form nineteen.