eleven
pronunciation
How to pronounce eleven in British English:
UK [ɪˈlevən]
How to pronounce eleven in American English:
US [ɪˈlevən]
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- Noun:
- the cardinal number that is the sum of ten and one
- a team that plays football
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- Adjective:
- being one more than ten
Word Origin
- eleven
- eleven: [OE] Originally, eleven and twelve seem to have meant literally ‘one over’ and ‘two over’. Eleven comes ultimately from a prehistoric Germanic *ainlif- (source also of German elf and Swedish elva) in which the first element *ainaz is ‘one’ and the second is probably related to English leave. The compound would thus have signified ‘one left (over ten)’, hence ‘ten plus one’.=> leave, one
- eleven (n.)
- c. 1200, elleovene, from Old English enleofan, endleofan, literally "one left" (over ten), from Proto-Germanic *ainlif- (compare Old Saxon elleban, Old Frisian andlova, Dutch elf, Old High German einlif, German elf, Old Norse ellifu, Gothic ainlif), a compound of *ain "one" (see one) + PIE *leikw- "leave, remain" (source of Greek leipein "to leave behind;" see relinquish). FIREFLY: Give me a number from 1 to 10.CHICOLINI: eleven! FIREFLY: Right! Viking survivors who escaped an Anglo-Saxon victory were daroþa laf "the leavings of spears," while hamora laf "the leavings of hammers" was an Old English kenning for "swords" (both from "The Battle of Brunanburgh"). Twelve reflects the same formation. Outside Germanic the only instance of this formation is in Lithuanian, which uses -lika "left over" and continues the series to 19 (vienio-lika "eleven," dvy-lika "twelve," try-lika "thirteen," keturio-lika "fourteen," etc.). Meaning "a team or side" in cricket or football is from 1743.
Example
- 1. The boy was nine and his sister was eleven .
- 2. Eleven lebanese shia pilgrims were kidnapped in syria .
- 3. Eleven hungry boys , sitting down to eat .
- 4. Eleven united states senators were buried there .
- 5. Over the past eleven years , ken has eluded an international dragnet .