two
/tu/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 6.10 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
num
Describing a set or group with two elements.
noun
noun
Two o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
Example Sentences
- "Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen."
- "“[…]The two murders might have been done by one of the ryots who was dissatisfied over his assessment and thought he had a grievance. […].”"
- "The surveillance program includes at least 480 LPRs that scan and record about 16.2 million vehicles per week and stores that data for two years, he wrote in the court filing."
- "The number 2202 contains three twos."
- "In our example, 1210 has 1 zero, 2 ones, 1 two and 0 threes. […] The number has 2 twos."
- "This toy is suitable for the twos and threes."
Etymology
PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English two, twa, from Old English twā, feminine and neuter of twēġen (whence twain), from Proto-West Germanic *twai-, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Cognates Cognate with Scots twa (“two”); North Frisian tou, tuu (“two”); Saterland Frisian twäin, two (“two”); West Frisian twa (“two”); Dutch twee (“two”); Low German twee, twei (“two”); German zwei, zwo (“two”); Danish and Norwegian to (“two”); Swedish två, tu (“two”); Icelandic tvö (“two”); Faroese tvey (“two”); Latin duō (“two”); Ancient Greek δύο (dúo, “two”); Irish dhá (“two”); Lithuanian dù (“two”); Russian два (dva, “two”); Albanian dy (“two”); Old Armenian երկու (erku, “two”); Sanskrit द्व (dvá, “two”); Tocharian A wu, Tocharian B wi. Doublet of duo. See also twain. Unrelated to resembling words in Austronesian languages, including Malagasy roa; Cebuano and Tagalog dalawa; West Coast Bajau and Minangkabau duo; Buginese ᨉᨘᨓ (dua); Indonesian, Iban, Iranun, Ilocano, Sundanese, and Malay dua; West Coast Bajau and Minangkabau duo; Fijian, Māori, Rapa Nui, and Rotuman rua; Niuean and Tongan ua; Hawaiian, Samoan, and Wallisian lua; South Marquesan 'ua. All of which originated from Proto-Austronesian *duSa.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: two, twā, *twai-, *twai, *dwóh₁
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /tu/
- British English: /tu/