twelve
pronunciation
How to pronounce twelve in British English:
UK [twelv]
How to pronounce twelve in American English:
US [twelv]
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- Noun:
- the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one
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- Adjective:
- denoting a quantity consisting of 12 items or units
Word Origin
- twelve
- twelve: [OE] Etymologically, twelve probably means ‘two over’ (just as eleven means ‘one over’). It appears to go back to a prehistoric Germanic compound formed from *twa- ‘two’ and *lif- (a relative of English leave), which also produced German zwölf, Dutch twaalf, Swedish tolf, and Danish tolv. If so, its underlying meaning is ‘two left (over ten)’, hence ‘ten plus two’.=> leave, two
- twelve (adj.)
- Old English twelf "twelve," literally "two left" (over ten), from Proto-Germanic *twa-lif-, a compound of the root of two + *lif-, root of the verb leave (see eleven). Compare Old Saxon twelif, Old Norse tolf, Old Frisian twelef, Middle Dutch twalef, Dutch twaalf, Old High German zwelif, German zwölf, Gothic twalif. Outside Germanic, an analogous formation is Lithuanian dvylika, with second element -lika "left over."
Example
- 1. Ashley : you love twelve oaks as I do .
- 2. Sirens sounded the all-clear around 5 a. m. - those still working in the half of the city that had not been attacked ; the other half burned for twelve hours more .
- 3. Only twelve more to go .
- 4. Here are his twelve apostles , and they all want the highest positions .
- 5. Twelve years later , it may be joe fox 's turn to worry .