Fifty is the number that comes after forty-nine and before fifty-one. It's written as 50 in numerals and represents five groups of ten, or half of one hundred.

Fifty appears everywhere in daily life. When you save your allowance and finally have fifty dollars, you've reached an amount that feels substantial: enough to buy something meaningful but not so much that you can be careless with it. In sports, scoring fifty points in a basketball game is a remarkable achievement that players remember for years. A fifty-yard dash is a common track and field event, testing speed over a medium distance.

The number often marks significant milestones. The fiftieth state to join the United States was Hawaii in 1959, completing the familiar pattern of fifty stars on the American flag. When someone celebrates their fiftieth birthday, family and friends often throw a special party because reaching fifty years represents half a century of life.

In everyday speech, people use fifty in interesting ways. Going fifty-fifty means splitting something exactly in half, like when two friends divide the cost of a pizza equally. Having a fifty-fifty chance means something is equally likely to happen or not happen, like flipping a coin.