ninety
/ˈnaɪn.di/number
ninety is spelled N-I-N-E-T-Y: 6 letters and 2 syllables. It appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a number, ninety means “The cardinal number occurring after eighty-nine and before ninety-one, represented in Roman numerals as XC and in Arabic numerals as 90” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in ninety?
| Letters | 6: N-I-N-E-T-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 5.1 times per million words; the 11,015th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is ninety?
Ninety appears 5.1 times per million words in written English, the 11,015th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce ninety?
- UK /ˈnaɪn.ti/
- US /ˈnaɪn.di/
- US /ˈnaɪn.ti/
Ninety has 2 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-ninety.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What does ninety mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
number
- 1
The cardinal number occurring after eighty-nine and before ninety-one, represented in Roman numerals as XC and in Arabic numerals as 90.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Ninety in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense 90:
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | quatre-vingt-dix, nonante |
| German | neunzig |
| Portuguese | noventa |
| Spanish | noventa |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does ninety come from?
From Middle English nynty, nynety, from Old English hundniġontiġ, from Proto-Germanic *newuntēhundą (“ninety”), equivalent to nine + -ty. Cognate with Scots nynty, nynety (“ninety”), Saterland Frisian njuugentich (“ninety”), West Frisian njoggentich (“ninety”), Dutch negentig (“ninety”), German Low German negentig (“ninety”), German neunzig (“ninety”), Swedish nittio (“ninety”), Norwegian Bokmål nitti (“ninety”), Norwegian Nynorsk nitti (“ninety”), Icelandic níutíu (“ninety”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).