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Meaning & use

XXVIII

number·Academic

Last updated

UK/ˌeks eks ˈeɪt/
US/ˌeks eks ˈeɪt/

Meanings

  1. number

    The Roman numeral that stands for the number 28.

    Grammar: Used before a noun or after it, like any number: XXVIII chapters, chapter XXVIII. It never changes form.

    Patterns

    • XXVIII + plural noun
    • noun + XXVIII
    • in XXVIII

    The final chapter is chapter XXVIII, so the book has twenty-eight chapters in all.

    The clock in the old town hall has no XXVIII on its face because it only shows twelve hours.

    She wrote the year of the battle as XXVIII on the museum label, meaning twenty-eight years after the founding.

  2. numberformal

    A label of this form used to number a king, queen, pope, or other long-serving ruler.

    Grammar: Comes straight after a name and is read as 'the twenty-eighth': Henry XXVIII.

    Patterns

    • name + XXVIII
    • XXVIII after a name

    Historians sometimes joke that Henry XXVIII would have been a very busy king indeed.

    The plaque lists the popes up to Pius XXVIII, though the numbering is disputed by some scholars.

Common combinations

chapter XXVIII
The teacher asked us to read chapter XXVIII before Friday.
volume XXVIII
Volume XXVIII of the encyclopedia covers the letters S and T.
the XXVIII Olympiad
The XXVIII Olympiad was held in Athens in 2004.
Super Bowl XXVIII
Super Bowl XXVIII was played in Atlanta in 1994.
XXVIII years later
XXVIII years later, the two friends met again at the same café.
numbered XXVIII
The seat was numbered XXVIII, right at the end of the row.

Synonyms and how they differ

28
The everyday Arabic numeral; use it in prices, dates, and ordinary writing, and keep XXVIII for chapters, rulers, and formal numbering.
twenty-eight
The same number written as words; it is the normal choice in running text, while XXVIII looks more formal or decorative.

Word family

XXVII number
The Roman numeral for twenty-seven, one less than XXVIII.
XXIX number
The Roman numeral for twenty-nine, one more than XXVIII.
XX number
The Roman numeral for twenty, the base that XXVIII builds on.

Commonly confused: XXVIII or XXIV? XXVIII or XXXVIII?

XXVIII vs XXIV

XXIV is twenty-four, not twenty-eight. Check the last two letters: IV means four, VIII means eight.

XXVIII vs XXXVIII

XXXVIII is thirty-eight. XXVIII has only two X's at the start, so it stops at twenty-eight.

Practice

Which number does the Roman numeral XXVIII represent?

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “XXVIII”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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