Etimology
From Middle English eighte, aught, eahte, ahte, from Old English eahta, from Proto-West Germanic *ahtō, from Proto-Germanic *ahtōu, from Proto-Indo-European *oḱtṓw. Cognate with Scots aucht (“eight”), West Frisian acht (“eight”), Dutch acht (“eight”), Low German acht (“eight”), German acht (“eight”), Norwegian åtte (“eight”), Swedish åtta (“eight”), Icelandic átta (“eight”), Latin octo (“eight”), Ancient Greek ὀκτώ (oktṓ), Irish ocht (“eight”).
numeral
eight
A numerical value equal to 8; the number occurring after seven and before nine.
Describing a group or set with eight elements.
Examples
Jon & Kate Plus 8 is a show based on two facts: 1) Jon and Kate Gosselin have eight children, and 2) the word ‘Kate’ rhymes with the word ‘eight’. One suspects that if Kate were ever to have another child, a shady network executive would urge her to put it in a binbag with a brick and drop it down a well. But this is just a horrifying tangent.
He works eight hours a day.
Related words
related terms
eighth
noun
eight (plural eights)
The digit/figure 8.
(playing cards) Any of the four cards in a normal deck with the value eight.
(nautical) A light, narrow rowing boat, especially one used in competitive rowing, steered by a cox, in which eight rowers each have two oars.
(rowing, especially in plural) A race in which such craft participate.
(rowing) The eight people who crew a rowing-boat.
Eight o'clock.
Examples
About eight on the Saturday morning, she purchases a large sheath-knife in the Palais Royal [...]
Sharp at eight we were waiting on the wharf where the Messagerie boats lie, and wondering what the deuce was going to happen.
Miranda showed him in at a quarter to eight, accompanied by a pretty young woman she introduced as Erin d'Angelo.
adjective
eight (not comparable)
Obsolete spelling of eighth
Etimology
See ait.
noun
eight (plural eights)
Alternative spelling of ait (island in a river)