seventeenth

Seventeenth is the ordinal form of the number seventeen, used to indicate position in an ordered sequence. It denotes the order after the sixteenth and before the eighteenth. In everyday usage, it appears in dates (the seventeenth of May), in references to chapters or sections (the seventeenth chapter), and in lists or rankings.

Etymology and formation: The word derives from the cardinal seventeen, itself formed from seven and ten with the teen suffix used for the 13–19 range. The ordinal is created by appending the standard ordinal suffix -th to the cardinal, yielding seventeenth. In pronunciation, it is commonly spoken as roughly seh-ven-TEENTH, with regional variations.

Numerical and cultural usage: The numeral seventeen is represented by the cardinal 17 and the Roman numeral XVII. The phrase “the seventeenth century” refers to the period from 1600 to 1699. The term also appears in calendar designations such as the seventeenth day of a month.

Notable references: In U.S. constitutional history, the Seventeenth Amendment (ratified in 1913) established the direct election of United States senators. In science and language, the seventeenth element on the periodic table is chlorine (symbol Cl), and the seventeenth letter of the English alphabet is Q.

Overall, seventeenth serves as a basic ordinal in mathematics, literature, history, and everyday counting, with usage spanning dates, sequences, and formal titles.