different between seventh vs septenary

English

Etymology

From Middle English sevenþe, sefte, from Old English seofoþa, from Proto-Germanic *sebundô.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?s?v.?n?/

Adjective

seventh (not comparable)

1. The ordinal form of the number seven.

Synonyms

• 7th, 7^th, VIIth; (in names of monarchs and popes) VII

Translations

Noun

seventh (plural sevenths)

1. The person or thing in the seventh position.
2. One of seven equal parts of a whole.
3. (music) A tone of the seventh degree from a given tone, the interval between two such tones, or the two tones sounding in unison.

Translations

Middle English

Adjective

seventh

1. Alternative form of sevenþe

English

Etymology

From the Latin sept?n?rius (“consisting of seven each”), from sept?n? (“seven each”, “seven at a time”) + -?rius (whence the English suffix -ary).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /s?p?ti?n??i/

Adjective

septenary (not comparable)

1. Consisting of or containing seven.
2. Of seventh rank or order.
   • 1899 October, W J McGee, The Beginning of Mathematics, in American Anthropologist 1(4), page 657, [1]

     ... indeed if further evidence than that of bestial and savage counting were required to show that finger-numeration and the quinary system were not primeval, it would be afforded by the development of the senary-septenary system in so many lands.

3. Lasting seven years; continuing seven years.

   • Septenary penance.

Translations

See also

• unary (1)
• primary (1st)
• binary (2)
• secondary (2nd)
• ternary (3)
• tertiary (3rd)
• quaternary (4)
• quinary (5)
• senary (6)
• octonary (8)
• nonary (9)
• denary (10)
• duodenary (12)
• vigenary (20)

Noun

septenary (plural septenaries)

1. A group of seven things.
2. A period of seven years.
   • 1971, Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic, Folio Society 2012, p. 596:

     This idea was based on the doctrine that a man's body changed its character every seven years and that his life was thus made up of ‘septenaries’.

3. (music) The seven notes of the diatonic scale.