third
/θɚd/adjective, noun, verb
third is spelled T-H-I-R-D: 5 letters and one syllable. It appears 209 times per million words in written English, the 483rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an adjective, third means “The ordinal form of the cardinal number three; Coming after the second” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in third?
| Letters | 5: T-H-I-R-D |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 209 times per million words; the 483rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is third?
Third appears 209 times per million words in written English, the 483rd 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 third?
- UK /θɜːd/
- US /θɚd/
- /θɪɹd/
Third has one syllable (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-third.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with third?
One word on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as third from its last stressed vowel (/əɹd/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: thrid.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of third
- thirds plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- thirding participle, present
- thirded participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does third mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
The ordinal form of the cardinal number three; Coming after the second.
The third tree from the left is my favorite.
noun
- 1
The person or thing in the third position.
Jones came in third.
- 2
One of three equal parts of a whole.
He ate a third of the pie. Divided by two-thirds.
- 3
Ellipsis of third gear (of a gearbox).
Now put it into third.
- 4
An interval consisting of the first and third notes in a scale.
They sing in thirds.
- 5
third base
The play ended with Jones standing on third.
- 6
A handicap of one stroke every third hole.
- 7
A third-class degree, awarded to the lowest achievers in an honours degree programme
- 8
archaicOne sixtieth of a second, i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system.
verb
- 1
informalTo agree with a proposition or statement after it has already been seconded.
- 2
To divide into three equal parts.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Third in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | troisième, trois , tiers , tierce |
| German | dritte , Dritter, Dritte , Terz , Drittel , dreiteilen |
| Portuguese | terceiro, terceira, terço, terça |
| Spanish | tercero , tercera , tercio |
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 third come from?
From Middle English thirde, thridde, from Old English þridda, from Proto-Germanic *þridjô, from Pre-Germanic *tretyós, a remodeling of Proto-Indo-European *tr̥tyós.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).