# Primary,secondary,tertiary...? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 1999, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812 "1999-10-06T23:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/1 "1999-10-06T23:08:00Z")
Well? 4th is…5th is?? Quadary? Quintary? (I love tertiary…) Stoid who gots ta know! * * * * * * This is a non-smoking area. If we see you smoking, we will assume you are on fire and act accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Crude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 1999, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/2 "1999-10-06T23:12:00Z")
## Quaternary comes after tertiary, and that’s certain. Beyond that it’s probably quintinary, sexternary, and septernary, but I could well be wrong. Beyond that it’s anybody’s guess. Nononary? Decimary? Tipperary? The mind fairly boggles… –Da Cap’n ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/3 "1999-10-07T02:08:00Z")
Astonishing. I was just looking this up last week! (I partitioned my hard drive into 5 parts and named them Primary, Secondary, Tertiary, Quaternary, and Quintenary). Had to look up Quintenary. Not sure about what comes sixth, though. * * * Designated Optional Signature at Bottom of Post ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/4 "1999-10-07T02:40:00Z")
Stoi senary, septenary, octal, nonary, decimal, undernary, duodecimal, hexadecimal, vigesimal, and sexagesimal (6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 16, 20 & 60) I also found sexagenary for 60 and septuagenary for 70. ---
**Author:** ![ChiefScott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58f4c7/32.png) [@ChiefScott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChiefScott)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/5 "1999-10-07T03:10:00Z")
Octagenary is 80. Wow, with a couple more posts we’ll have numbers one through a hundred covered. ---
**Author:** ![aseymayo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a88e57/32.png) [@aseymayo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aseymayo)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/6 "1999-10-07T04:52:00Z")
I can’t add any numbers, I just want to repeat the word “undernary.” Undernary. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/7 "1999-10-07T05:17:00Z")
AHunter: Where did you “look it up”? * * * * * * This is a non-smoking area. If we see you smoking, we will assume you are on fire and act accordingly. ---
**Author:** ![TheDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d6d6ee/32.png) [@TheDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheDude)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/8 "1999-10-07T21:30:00Z")
These are the ones I found on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) and Roget’s thesaurus: primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary, senary, septenary, octonary, (none for ninth), denary, (none for eleventh, but by analogy, undenary), duodenary,…, vicenary (for 20), and centenary. As cool as it may sound, I found no entry for undernary. Duodenary sounds like a piece of my intestine. And I think 13th should be terdenary and 16th sexadenary-both funny words. ::insert Beavis and Butt-head laughing here:: TheDude ---
**Author:** ![pluto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f08c70/32.png) [@pluto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pluto)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 1999, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/9 "1999-10-07T22:01:00Z")
## Duodenary sounds like your intestine because the derivation for the word duodenum is also the number twelve. According to my dictionary it is named for “its length, about 12 fingers breadth”. “If you had manifested _fatigue_ upon noticing that you had been an ass, that would have been logical, that would have been rational; whereas it seems to me that to manifest _surprise_ was to be again an ass.” Mark Twain _Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc_ ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Crude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 1999, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/10 "1999-10-08T13:26:00Z")
Beatle said: > [@](#): > > I also found sexagenary for 60 and septuagenary for 70. These are true, but only for counting the age of somebody or something. The terms refer to Sexagenary is anything pertaining to a person or thing that is age 60-69. Then we have septuagenary, octagenary, nonogenary, and centenary. To make it a noun, change the the ‘y’ to ‘ian.’ My dad is a sexagenarian; the late George Burns managed to live long enough to be a centenarian. * * * –Da Cap’n ---
**Author:** ![Cap\_n\_Crude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Cap\_n\_Crude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cap_n_Crude)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 1999, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/11 "1999-10-08T13:27:00Z")
“The terms refer to sexagenary…?” What the hell was I typing? Just start that sentence at Sexagenary, and I think it makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 1999, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/12 "1999-10-09T00:35:00Z")
Ok, how high do the prefixes for powers of ten go? I know of: -10^1 deca -10^2 centa -10^3 kilo -10^6 mega -10^9 giga -10^12 tera -10^15 peta -10^18 exa I vaguely remember a local newspaper article that had prefixes for ^21 and ^24, but I wasn’t sure if he made them up to be sarcastic, and I can’t recall them anyway. At the rate computers are advancing, we’re going to need them. ---
**Author:** ![NanoByte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecc23a/32.png) [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 1999, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/13 "1999-10-09T08:18:00Z")
Hey, and if you decided to check this doggerel over properly, you might live long enough to be a vetter-inarian. And back there between ‘primary’ (liquor is quicker) and ‘secondary’ (those cows down the road apiece) is ‘sesquinary’, I think, but maybe that would be splitting hairs or levels or suh’m. And even before you get to ‘primary’, wouldn’t you stop by the ‘seminary’ or ‘cemetary’ or ‘half-ass’ maybe? And even before that, the preliminary. . .or doesn’t zero count? Sanctuary much for your patients. So as not to overextend it, we will dispense with the ones on the other side of zero, such as anti-primary, etc., or the really unreal ones, such as unitary-imagine-airy. All this, you understand, because we must have **ORDER** IN THIS COURT! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/14 "1999-10-10T15:27:00Z")
I’m dreading the day I’m at a meeting and I hear the words, “and next, the septuagenary item on our agenda…” ---
**Author:** ![Seraphim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@Seraphim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seraphim)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 1999, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/primary-secondary-tertiary/3812/15 "1999-10-10T21:19:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I vaguely remember a local newspaper article that had prefixes for ^21 and ^24, but I wasn’t sure if he made them up to be sarcastic, and I can’t recall them anyway. At the rate computers are advancing, we’re going to need them. -10^21 yota -10^24 zeta and while we’re on the subject… -2^10 kibi -2^20 mebi -2^30 gibi -2^40 tebi -2^50 pebi -2^60 exbi