twain
/tweɪn/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.39 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
5
Letters
1
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
num
two
Dated
adj
name
A standard software protocol and applications programming interface (API) that regulates communication between software applications and imaging devices such as scanners and digital cameras.
name
A surname.
name
A census-designated place in Plumas County, California, United States.
Example Sentences
- "But the warm twilight round us twain will never rise again."
- "Bring me these twain cups of wine and water, and let us drink from the one we feel more befitting of this day."
- "Since I haue your good leaue to goe away, I will make haſt; but till I come againe, No bed ſhall ere be guilty of my ſtay, Nor reſt be interpoſer twixt vs twaine."
- "A month or twain to live on honeycomb Is pleasant;"
- "Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet."
- "And whenever Sir Chetwynd spoke of his "young girls" he was moved to irreverent smiling, as he knew the youngest of the twain was at least thirty."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ Proto-Germanic *twai Proto-West Germanic *twai-der. Old English twēġen Middle English tweyne English twain PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English tweyne, tweien, twaine, from Old English twēġen m (“two”), from Proto-West Germanic *twai-, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Cognate with Saterland Frisian twäin, Low German twene, German zween. More at two. The word outlasted the breakdown of gender in Middle English and survived as a secondary form of two, then especially in the cases where the numeral follows a noun. Its continuation into modern times was aided by its use in KJV, the Marriage Service, in poetry (where it is commonly used as a rhyme word), and in oral use where it is necessary to be clear that two and not to or too is meant.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: tweyne, twēġen, *twai-, *twai, *dwóh₁, twaynen