What does fourteenthly mean?
Fourteenthly is an adverb used to introduce the fourteenth item in an ordered series of points, belonging to a small family of ordinal adverbs formed with the suffix '-ly' (as in firstly, secondly, thirdly, and so on). In practice, words of this kind beyond roughly tenthly are vanishingly rare: writers who reach a fourteenth point almost always switch to numbered lists or simply say 'fourteenth'. When it does appear, fourteenthly tends to signal either extreme formality — echoing the exhaustive, numbered arguments of older sermons, treatises, and parliamentary speeches — or a deliberate touch of irony and mock-pedantry. Its rarity makes it more likely to be encountered as a curiosity than as everyday vocabulary, but it is a legitimate English word, transparently constructed from the ordinal number 'fourteenth' and fully understandable at first sight.
adverbIn the fourteenth place in a sequence or enumeration; used to introduce the fourteenth item in a list of points.
- Used as a discourse marker to introduce or enumerate the fourteenth point in a sequence, chiefly in formal argumentation, sermons, or lengthy lists.
"Fourteenthly, we must consider the impact of the new policy on rural communities."
"The sermon stretched on interminably: twelfthly, thirteenthly, fourteenthly, the preacher enumerated his objections without pause."
"Fourteenthly, the committee noted that no budget had been allocated for the proposed reforms."
English has an '-ly' adverb for nearly every ordinal number — and 'fourteenthly' is one of those gloriously awkward relics that survives mainly because nobody ever needed it enough to use it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of fourteenthly
Fourteenthly is formed within English from the ordinal number 'fourteenth', which derives from Old English 'feowerteotha', itself built from the cardinal 'feowertene' (fourteen), composed of the Germanic root for 'four' plus '-tene' (ten). The adverbial suffix '-ly' here is not the common adverb-forming suffix of words like 'quickly' but the enumerative ending seen in 'firstly' and 'secondly', which became productive in English prose from around the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as writers sought orderly markers for extended argumentation. Cognates of the underlying numeral appear across the Germanic languages, such as German 'vierzehn' (fourteen).
Related word forms
How fourteenthly is actually used
Extremely rare and largely archaic; even in formal writing, enumerating as far as a fourteenth point is unusual, and modern style guides recommend avoiding long chains of '-ly' ordinals in favour of numbered lists. The word carries a faintly pedantic or humorous connotation when used today, often ironically.
Easily confused with fourteenthly
Fortiethly (itself exceedingly rare) would refer to the fortieth item in a list, whereas fourteenthly refers to the fourteenth.