twelve
/twɛlv/
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.35 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
num
The cardinal number occurring after eleven and before thirteen, represented in Arabic numerals as 12 and in Roman numerals as XII.
noun
A twelve-bore gun.
Example Sentences
- "There are twelve months in a year."
- "Hopper points out that duodecads have been prominent in every ancient civilization and cites as examples twelve spokes in the wheel of the Hindu Rta, the twelve gates of hell where Egyptian Ra must spend the twelve hours of night, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve labors of Hercules, [...]"
- "Fractions would be a little easier if we counted by twelves."
- "In this way Von Esslin ‘inherited’ two fine hammerless twelves which he used once or twice for duck on the Camargue."
- "watch your twelve"
- "For quotations using this term, see Citations:twelve."
Etymology
From Middle English twelve, from Old English twelf (“twelve”), from Proto-Germanic *twalif, an old compound of *twa- (“two”) and *-lif (“left over”) (i.e., two left over after having already counted to ten), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“leave, remain”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian tweelf, tweelif, tweelich (“twelve”), West Frisian tolve (“twelve”), Dutch twaalf (“twelve”), German Low German twalf, twalv (“twelve”), German zwölf (“twelve”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tolv (“twelve”), Icelandic tólf (“twelve”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *leyp-, twelve, twelf, *twalif
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /twɛlv/
- British English: /twɛlv/