eleven

Meaning

Noun

• A cricket team of eleven players. Hence first eleven - the team of best cricket players (at a school), second eleven - the "B" team, etc.
• A football team of eleven players; the starting lineup.
• Used instead of ! to amplify an exclamation, imitating someone who forgets to press the shift key while typing exclamation points.
• A number off the charts of a hypothetical scale of one to ten.

Related

Similar words

• one, 1

Origin

• From Middle English elleven, enleven, eleven, from Old English endleofan; from Proto-Germanic *ainalif ("one left") (i.e., one left over after having already counted to ten), a compound of *ainaz and *-lif, from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- ("leave, remain"). Compare West Frisian alve, Low German ölven, Dutch elf, German elf, Icelandic ellefu, Danish and Norwegian elleve.