twenty

English Online Dictionary. What means twenty‎? What does twenty mean?

English

Alternative forms

• Arabic numerals: 20 (see for numerical forms in other scripts)
• Roman numerals: XX

Etymology

From Middle English twenty, twenti, from Old English twēntiġ (“twenty”, literally “two tens”), from Proto-Germanic *twaintigiwiz, *twai tigiwiz, an old compound of *twain- (“two”) +‎ *-tigaz (“group of ten”), equivalent to two + -ty, or twain + -ty. Cognate with Scots twenty, tuenty (“twenty”), West Frisian tweintich (“twenty”), Dutch twintig (“twenty”), German zwanzig (“twenty”), Danish tyve.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtwɛnti/, [ˈtw̥ɛ̃nti]
• (General American) enPR: twĕnʹtē, IPA^(key): /ˈtwɛnti/, [ˈtw̥ɛɾ̃i], /ˈtwɛni/, [ˈtw̥ɛ̃ɾ̃i]
• (parts of the US and Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈtwʌn(t)i/, /ˈtwʊn(t)i/
• (Philippines, nonstandard, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈtweɪnti/
• Rhymes: -ɛnti, -ʌnti

Numeral

twenty

1. The cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one.

Synonyms

Derived terms

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: twenti

Translations

Noun

twenty (plural twenties)

1. (in the plural) The numbers twenty (20) to twenty-nine (29).

2. (colloquial) A banknote with a denomination of 20.
3. (CB slang) 10-20 (location).
4. (UK, historical, military) An old English division of infantry.

Translations

Middle English

Alternative forms

• thewenti, thwenti, tuenti, tuentie, tweinti, twenti, twentig, twentie, twenntiȝ, twentti, twinti, twonti, twontie

Etymology

From Old English twēntiġ, from Proto-Germanic *twai tigiwiz; equivalent to twei +‎ -ty.

Numeral

twenty

1. twenty

Descendants

• English: twenty
  • Tok Pisin: twenti
• Scots: twinty, twenty, tuenty
• Yola: dwanty

References

• “twentī, num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.