twenty
pronunciation
How to pronounce twenty in British English:
UK [ˈtwenti]
How to pronounce twenty in American English:
US [ˈtwenti]
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- Noun:
- the cardinal number that is the sum of nineteen and one
- a United States bill worth 20 dollars
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- Adjective:
- denoting a quantity consisting of 20 items or units
Word Origin
- twenty
- twenty: [OE] Twenty is etymologically ‘two tens’. The second syllable, -ty, is related to ten, and twen- goes back to the same source as two, although its precise ancestry is not clear.=> ten, two
- twenty (n.)
- Old English twentig "group of twenty," from twegen "two" (see two) + -tig "group of ten" (see -ty (1)). Cognate with Old Saxon twentig , Old Frisian twintich, Dutch twintig, Old High German zweinzug, German zwanzig. Gothic twai tigjus is even more transparent: literally "two tens." The card game twenty-one (1790) is from French vingt-et-un (1781). Twenty-twenty hindsight is first recorded 1962, a figurative use of the Snellen fraction for normal visual acuity, expressed in feet. The guessing game of twenty questions is recorded from 1786.
Example
- 1. Twenty years later , I still remember this moment .
- 2. Less than twenty seconds apart .
- 3. Play twenty questions with him .
- 4. She survived her husband by twenty years .
- 5. I 've been in this business for almost twenty years .