twelfth

Everyday

1. Twelfth comes after eleventh in order: number 12. tree →
2. A twelfth is one of twelve equal parts of a whole, written 1/12. tree →
3. A month is one twelfth of a year. tree →

In the lessons

Maths: an order position or a fraction (one twelfth); one twelfth of a total means divide by 12. Everyday: twelfth grade (the last year of school in the US), Twelfth Night (a play by Shakespeare).

Examples

• He finished twelfth in the race. tree →
• One twelfth of the class was absent. tree →
• The twelfth page has a picture. tree →
• A month is one twelfth of a year. tree →
• One twelfth of 36 is 3. tree →
• She is in twelfth grade. tree →
• The pizza was cut into twelfths. tree →
• "Then you shall be the twelfth," said the old Chinaman. tree →

Note

Written 12th; note the f: twelve → twelfth. As a fraction: one twelfth of a total means divide by 12. As an order word it is a position, not an amount. Trap: do not write «twelth».

In Jewish tradition

Used for the twelfth day of the princes' gifts to the Tabernacle, when Ahira of Naphtali brought his offering.

Interpretation. Tradition notes that the twelve princes gave identical gifts on separate days, so no tribe felt greater than another.

Examples

• On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, prince of the children of Naphtali: (Torah NUM.7.78, JPS 1917) tree →
• that Saadjah Gaon, who lived in the tenth, and Judah Halevi, who lived in the twelfth century, represented the book "Yezirah" as a very ancient work. (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →
• I must not omit to mention two other Hebrew commentaries, one by Judah Halevi, and the other by Ebn Ezra, who lived in the first part of the twelfth century. (Sefer Yetzirah, Kalisch 1877) tree →
• the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim; (Writings 1CH.24.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• The twelfth to Hashabiah, his sons and his brethren, twelve; (Writings 1CH.25.19, JPS 1917) tree →
• The twelfth captain for the twelfth month was Heldai the Netophathite, of Othniel; and in his course were twenty and four thousand. (Writings 1CH.27.15, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Written 12th; note the f: twelve → twelfth. As a fraction: one twelfth of a total means divide by 12. As an order word it is a position, not an amount. Trap: do not write «twelth».