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How would you complete the following sequence, until point 10?

  1. Once
  2. Twice
  3. Thrice
  4. (...)

Any help would be appreciated.

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    Thrice is a little old-fashioned (in BrE). Most people in the UK say "three times".
    – Mick
    Dec 29, 2016 at 10:26
  • @Mick - Same in the US, I think. It was a little surprising, but I've used thrice a couple times and the person I was speaking with or writing to was unfamiliar with the word.
    – J.R. ♦
    Dec 29, 2016 at 10:31
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    @J.R. Some of my friends use it, but then we're all old codgers. :-]
    – Mick
    Dec 29, 2016 at 10:32
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    Thrice now seems to be more common in Indian English than in British or American.
    – alephzero
    Dec 29, 2016 at 11:44
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    EL&U related question: I've said it once, I've said it twice, I've said it a thousand times
    – Mari-Lou A
    Dec 29, 2016 at 13:24

6 Answers 6

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As others have stated in the comments, you would continue like this:

  1. Once
  2. Twice / a couple of times / two times
  3. Thrice / three times
  4. Four times
  5. Five times
  6. Six times
  7. Seven times
  8. Eight times
  9. Nine times
  10. Ten times

Note: "a couple" doesn't always mean exactly two, although it often does.

As mentioned by Mick in the comments, thrice is quite old fashioned and while most people in the UK would understand, it's not commonly used.

You might also reference the fact that 12 is also known as a dozen (and therefore 6 is half a dozen):

  • 6 times = Half a dozen times (or "a half dozen times" in the US sometimes)
  • 12 times = A dozen times

There are also some other ways to reference numbers of "things" which don't really apply or work in the "times" example (some of which are a little archaic and more likely to be seen in literature or poetry than in everyday conversational speech/writing):

  • 2 ants -> a pair/duo of ants
  • 3 mice -> a trio/trinity of mice
  • 4 cats -> a quartet of cats
  • 5 dogs -> a quintet of dogs
  • 20 birds -> a score of birds
  • 144 eggs -> a gross of eggs (more often called 12 dozen eggs)

In the UK, we also have some slang for certain amounts of money:

  • £5 = a fiver
  • £10 = a tenner
  • £20 = a score (like above)
  • £25 = a pony
  • £500 = a monkey
  • £1000 = a grand (also used in the US)

There are a load more which originated in cockney rhyming slang, but those above are the most common.

Anyway, I've gone quite a bit off-topic there, but hopefully answered your question and gave you a little additional insight as well.

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    I've never heard anyone seriously say "a score", "a pony", or "a monkey" when referring to quantities of money. While those are slang terms that are likely used in some areas they're far from universal in the UK! Fiver and tenner, or the other hand, I'd say are very common. In your animals example, I'd say only "pair" and to a lesser extent "trio" I would expect to hear; the others would sound (to me) archaic, poetic, or perhaps sensible only in some contexts (eg of a string quartet).
    – Muzer
    Dec 29, 2016 at 11:29
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    The answer to the original question is good. But the additional info is spurious and questionable. Sorry. I've never come across "a trinity" except in Church, and "a trio" is quite unusual too. Most people would just say 'three'. I've also never heard "quartet" or "quintet" used outside of the music world. Definitely not for cats and dogs. "Score" meaning 20 is correct but archaic; nobody uses it now. "Pony" and "Monkey" are cockney slang and would only apply to money; I've never heard either in actual use either.
    – Simba
    Dec 29, 2016 at 13:24
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    @3N1GM4 I'm not a regular user here, so I can't say whether its helpful or harmful for an answer to have additional info. What I would say here is that some of it is quite a long way removed from the original question, so it's not really particularly relevant. But the answer has been accepted so the OP obviously found it useful, which is ultimately the objective on a Q&A site, so I guess it's fine. :)
    – Simba
    Dec 29, 2016 at 13:36
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    @Simba "A couple", "a dozen" etc. are actually quite specific in many (most?) contexts, whereas "a few" and "a handful" are most definitely not. When used unqualified I'd often expect the former to mean the exact values, but not the latter.
    – Muzer
    Dec 29, 2016 at 13:53
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    @Muzer "A couple", in my experience, is usually not so specific. If I asked somebody "How many things are there?" and they said "A couple", I'd interpret that to mean "I think there were two but I'm not absolutely certain; there might have been one or three." If they said "Two", I'd interpret that to be mean exactly two, with a good deal of certainty. On the other hand, I'd interpret "a dozen" to mean "twelve".
    – David Richerby
    Dec 29, 2016 at 22:27
40

once
twice
thrice

and then there were none

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Anyone who plays DROD knows it's:

  • Thrice
  • Quarce
  • Quince
  • Sence
  • Septence
  • Octence
  • Novence
  • Tonce

Edit: Just to clarify, these are - indeed - protologisms. In DROD, they're used to indicate room coordinates (for comedic effect, instead of common notation), e.g. "Twice North, Septence West".

Sorry for the confusion - I should've mentioned it's not standard language.

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    And for the vast vast majority of those who don't, they won't.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Dec 30, 2016 at 15:11
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    Writhe, could you please indicate the exact section of the DROD link, where I can find such information? thanks in advance
    – An old man in the sea.
    Dec 30, 2016 at 16:41
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    from wikipedia, it seems the words are 'protologisms'/neologisms...
    – An old man in the sea.
    Dec 30, 2016 at 16:44
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    This is all well and good for that particular game, but that's not the point of this site at all.
    – Chris Hayes
    Dec 30, 2016 at 22:56
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    Actually I really appreciate the information. Clearly when it comes to enumerating the frequency of occurrence of things, it is quite frustrating to realize that your native language lacks the necessary words. But in English, we coin words all the time so why not go with these protologisms?
    – bearvarine
    Jul 25, 2017 at 18:43
4

Welcome,

Four times, five times, etc..

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"Nothing! These three are the only words of their type, and no further terms in the series have ever existed." Oxford dictionary

But you can use tuples,

Names for tuples of specific lengths:

1 single

2 double

3 triple/treble

4 quadruple

5 quintuple pentadruple

6 sextuple hexatruple

7 septuple

8 octuple

9 nonuple

10 decuple

11 undecuple hendecuple

12 duodecuple

13 tredecuple

100 centuple

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Something that other answers have not mentioned is the use of "fold":

onefold

twofold

threefold

fourfold

Merriam-Webster does mention that "twofold" means

having two parts or aspects

So "onefold, twofold ..." should be useable as an alternative sequence here.

Quick note: "thrice" is already rarely used! Quarce can be used to denote 4 times, but it also (extremely!) rarely used.

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