whichth

English

Etymology

From which +‎ -th. Equivalent constructions are standard in many of the world’s languages.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wɪtʃθ/, /ʍɪtʃθ/

Adjective

whichth (not comparable)

1. (rare, nonstandard) Which ordinal number.

   Whichth president was Abraham Lincoln?

   Whichth' planet from the sun is the earth?

   • 1911, The Druggists Circular: A Practical Journal of Pharmacy and General Business Organ for Druggists, volume 55, The Druggists Circular, page 441:

     And but one argument arose, it was over this abstruse astronomical zodiacal problem: If the first "Jamieson Day" was celebrated in 1898, whichth "Jamieson Day" do we celebrate this year, the thirteenth or the fourteenth? and whichth anniversary is it?

   • 1975, Tribune, Ceylon News Service, page 4:

     […] knocking the stuffing out of each other for goodness knows the whichth time this year […]

   • 1992, Jan Seale, Airlift: Short Stories, Texas Christian University Press, →ISBN, page 4, →ISBN:

     […] lay back in the lounger, checking the mantel clock for the he-didn't-know-whichth time. Four-forth-five.

   • 2012, Richard G. Heck, Reading Frege's Grundgesetze, OUP Oxford, →ISBN, page 223, →ISBN:

     But the use of ordinals to answer questions of the form, "The which^th member of the ordering?" is as much one of their distinguishing characteristics as the use of cardinals to answer questions of the form "How many?" is one of theirs.

Translations

Standing for an unknown or queried ordinal number — see what number

Translations

• Esperanto: kioma (eo)

See also

• nth