hundredth

IPA/ˈhʌn.drətθ/
KK[hˈʌndrədθ]IPA/ˈhʌn.drətθ/

hundredth — adjective

  • hundredthpositive
  • more hundredthcomparative
  • most hundredthsuperlative

1. relating to the number that comes after ninety-ninth in a series — for example,

1.adjectiveB1
Definition

relating to the number that comes after ninety-ninth in a series — for example, the hundredth guest to arrive, or the hundredth year after an event started.

Example

The museum celebrated its hundredth anniversary with a special exhibition of old photographs.

hundredth + anniversary — ordinal with annual events

Sahil was the hundredth passenger to board the flight and got a free upgrade.

Common collocations
  • hundredth anniversary
  • hundredth birthday
  • hundredth performance
  • hundredth edition
  • hundredth customer

Grammar Patterns

hundredth + noun

Usage Note

Always used before a noun. Common with milestone nouns such as anniversary, birthday, performance, and edition. The determiner the is typically used before it: the hundredth customer, her hundredth birthday.

Common Mistakes

The athlete finished in the hundred place in the race.
The athlete finished in hundredth place in the race.
hundredth is the ordinal form; hundred alone is a cardinal number and does not indicate position in a sequence.

2. relating to a quantity that is one part in a hundred — used when highlighting a

2.adjectiveB2
Definition

relating to a quantity that is one part in a hundred — used when highlighting a very small proportion or amount, for example a hundredth part of a gram.

Example

The laboratory scale can measure a hundredth part of a gram with great accuracy.

hundredth + part — fractional adjective before a noun

A hundredth part of the village budget was set aside for the new library.

a hundredth part + of [budget / fund] — fractional adjective with financial allocations

Common collocations
  • hundredth part

Grammar Patterns

hundredth part + of + noun

Usage Note

This sense is always used attributively (before a noun). It overlaps in meaning with the noun sense (one hundredth of something), but here it functions as a modifier — for example, a hundredth part rather than a hundredth of it. In everyday language, the noun form (a hundredth of...) is more common.

hundredth — noun

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Hundredth (noun) and one-hundredth are interchangeable in most contexts — one-hundredth is slightly more formal and is often used in mathematical or written contexts (one hundredth of the total). Percent (meaning 'per hundred') is the most common everyday word for the same fraction: 1% is equivalent to one hundredth. However, percent is a standalone unit and does not combine directly with of a second or of a gram — you say one hundredth of a second, not one percent of a second. A basis point is 1/100 of a percent (or 1/10,000), used almost exclusively in finance. For everyday measurements (time, length, weight), hundredth is the natural choice: 'The race was decided by a hundredth of a second.'

hundredth ↗one-hundredthpercent ↗basis point

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • hundredth of a second
  • hundredth anniversary
  • hundredth birthday
  • hundredth of a gram

Prepositions

  • hundredth of
  • in hundredth place
  • to the nearest hundredth

Etymology

Proto-GermanicOld EnglishEnglish

Hundredth comes from Old English hundred + the suffix -th (which forms ordinal numbers, as in sixth, seventh, eighth). The word hundred itself traces back through Old English hundred to Proto-Germanic *hundaradą ('a hundred count'), a compound of *hundą ('hundred') and *radą ('number, count'). The ordinal suffix -th has been used since Old English times to form position numbers from cardinal numbers.