eleventy en · NUM
Pronunciation
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *ís? Proto-Indo-European *h₁óynos Proto-Germanic *ainaz Proto-Indo-European *leyp- Proto-Germanic *lībaną Proto-Germanic *-lif Proto-Germanic *ainalif Proto-West Germanic *ainalif Proto-West Germanic *ainalifun Old English endleofan Middle English elleven English eleven Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ Proto-Indo-European *-t Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥-t(-s) Proto-Germanic *tegun(dz) Proto-Germanic *teguz Proto-Germanic *tigiwiz Old English -tiġ Middle English -ty English -ty Old English hundendleftiġ English eleventy From eleven + -ty, from Old English hundendleftiġ (also spelled hundendleofantiġ, hundendlyftiġ, and hundælleftiġ). See twelfty for more. Popularized in the 20th century by J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Meanings
-
(informal) The number 110, 11 × 10.
Compounds with other numerals: eleventy-one (111), eleventy-six (116), eleventy first (one-hundred and eleventh), etc.
without having to go back through the thousand and eleventy-three days to alter the plan
1980, Janet Caudle, State and Interstate Fishery Jurisdiction: Problems and Progress : Proceedings of a Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, 1979 : October 29-31, 1979, page 149:Eight-Oh-Two-Dot-Eleventy Something [= 802.11a, 802.11b, etc.]
2007, Doug Lowe, Networking for Dummies, page 174:[Bilbo] announced that he would shortly be celebrating his eleventy-first birthday […] “Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday: I am eleventy-one today!”
1955 (1974), JRR Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring, pages 43, 54:
-
(colloquial) An indefinite large number.
No grown-up people, no babies, no girls. It was a world of boys, eleventy and a hundred strong.
May 1921, Margaret Wilson, “A Little Boy's Utopia”, in The Atlantic Monthly, page 670:People used to think that the first eleventy letters of the DNA message would comprise Gene 1.
2005, Robert M Sapolsky, Monkeyluv: And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals, page 19:According to a study by me, this generates a multibillion facepalm for the UK economy, making everyone who considers it at least eleventy hundred pounds unhappier.
2012 July 3, Marina Hyde, “A lesson in Olymp-o-nomics”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 19 May 2025:
Relateds
twelfty (120) · teenty (100) · eleventeen
Translations (9)
mnc ᡝᠮᡠ ᡨᠠᠩᡤᡡ ᠵᡠᠸᠠᠨ (one hundred and ten) · fr onzante (one hundred and ten) · ca milanta (indefinite large number) · pl sto dziesięć (one hundred and ten) · bg сто и десет (one hundred and ten) · sv femtioelva (indefinite large number) · fi satakymmenen (one hundred and ten) · ru сто де́сять (one hundred and ten) · cmn 一百一十 (one hundred and ten)
wikipedia: J. R. R. Tolkien · wikipedia: The Lord of the Rings