twelve

English

Wikipedia

Alternative forms

• Arabic numerals: 12
• Roman numerals: XII

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English twelf, from Proto-Germanic *twalif, an old compound of *twa- (“two”) and *-lif (“left over”), from Proto-Indo-European *leikw- (“leave, remain”). Compare West Frisian tolve, Dutch twaalf, German zwölf, Danish tolf, Norwegian tolv.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /twɛlv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlv

Numeral

twelve

1. The cardinal number occurring after eleven and before thirteen, represented in Arabic numerals as 12 and in Roman numerals as XII.

   There are twelve months in a year.

Related terms

• Ordinal: twelfth.

Translations

cardinal number 12

• Afrikaans: twaalf (af)
• Albanian: dymbëdhjetë (sq)
• Amharic: ዐሥራ ሁለት (aäsra hulät) (numeral: ፲፪)
• Arabic: إثْنا عَشَرَ (ar) ('ithnaa 3ashara) (numeral: ١٢)

  Egyptian Arabic: اتناشر (itnaashar)

• Aramaic:

  Syriac: ܬܪܥܣܪ (tre‘sar) m, ܬܪܬܥܣܪܐ (tarta‘esrē) f

• Armenian: տասներկու (hy) (tasnerku)
• Aymara: tunka payani (ay)
• Azeri: on iki (az)
• Basque: hamabi (eu)
• Belarusian: дванаццаць (be) (dvanáccac’)
• Bengali: বারো (bn) (baro) (numeral: ১২)
• Breton: daouzek
• Bulgarian: дванадесет (bg) (dvanádeset)
• Burmese: ဆယ့်နှစ် (my) (hsè.hnit)
• Catalan: dotze
• Chamicuro: chunka ma'pojta
• Chechen: шийтта (šiytta)
• Chichewa: khumi n'ziwiri
• Chinese: 十二 (shíèr) (numeral: 拾貳)
• Czech: dvanáct (cs)
• Dalmatian: dotco
• Danish: tolv (da)
• Dena'ina: nutiha beq'di
• Dutch: twaalf (nl)
• Esperanto: dek du (eo)
• Estonian: kaksteist (et)
• Faroese: tólv (fo)
• Finnish: kaksitoista (fi)
• French: douze (fr)
• Friulian: dodis
• Galician: doce (gl)
• Garífuna: dûsu
• Georgian: თორმეტი (ka) (t’ermeti)
• German: zwölf (de)
• Greek: δώδεκα (el) (dódeka)
• Gujarati: બાર (numeral: ૧૨)
• Haitian Creole: douz
• Hawaiian: ʻumikūmālua

  Hebrew: תרעסר (tre‘sar) m, תרתעסרא (tarta‘esrē) f

• Hebrew: שְׁתֵּים־עֶשְׂרֵה (shteim esre) f (used in counting), שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר (shneim asar) m
• Hindi: बारह (bārah) (numeral: १२)
• Hopi: pakwt niikyang löqmuy siikya’ta
• Hungarian: tizenkettő (hu)
• Icelandic: tólf (is)
• Indonesian: dua belas
• Interlingua: dece-duo, duodece
• Irish: dó dhéag (ga)
• Italian: dodici (it)
• Japanese: 十二 (じゅうに, jūni)
• Kalaallisut: aqqaniq-marluk
• Kannada: please add this translation if you can: (numeral: ೧೨)
• Khmer: ដប់ពីរ (dop pī) (numeral: ១២)
• Korean: 열둘 (yeoldul)

• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: dazde (ku), diwazde

  Sorani: دوانزه‌, دوازده‌

• Lao: ສິບສອງ (lo) (sip-sööng) (numeral: ໑໒)
• Latgalian: divpadsmit
• Latin: duodecim (la)
• Latvian: divpadsmit (lv)
• Livonian: kakštuoistõn
• Low German: twölf (nds), twolf (nds)
• Macedonian: дванаесет (mk) (dvanáeset)
• Malay: dua belas (ms), sepuluh dua (ms), satu puluh dua (ms)
• Malayalam: പന്ത്രണ്ട് (ml)
• Maltese: tnax
• Manchu: (juwan juwe)
• Mansi: китыгхуйплов (kitygxujplow)
• Manx: daa yeig
• Mongolian: арван хоёр (mn) (arvan hoyor) (numeral: ᠑᠒)
• Nauruan: ata ma aro (na)
• Navajo: naakitsʼáadah
• Norwegian: tolv (no)
• Novial: dek-du
• Occitan: dotze (oc)
• Ojibwe: ashi-niizh
• Oriya: please add this translation if you can: (numeral: ୧୨)
• Persian: دوازده (fa)
• Polish: dwanaście (pl)
• Portuguese: doze (pt)
• Punjabi: ਬਾਰਾਂ (pa) (bārāṅ) (numeral: ੧੨)
• Romanian: doisprezece m, doișpe (m, informal), douăsprezece f & n, douășpe (f & n, informal)
• Romansch: dudesch (rm)
• Russian: двенадцать (ru) (dvenádtsat’)
• Sanskrit: द्वादश (sa) (dvādaśa)
• Sardinian: dóghi
• Scottish Gaelic: dà dheug (gd), a dhà dheug (gd)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: два́нае̄ст (sh)

  Roman: dvánaēst (sh)

• Sinhalese: දොළහ (dholaha)
• Slovak: dvanásť (sk)
• Slovene: dvanájst (sl)
• Spanish: doce (es)
• Swedish: tolv (sv)
• Tagalog: labindalawa
• Tamil: பன்னிரண்டு (ta) (paṉṉiraṇṭu) (numeral: ௰௨)
• Telugu: పండ్రెండు (te) (pamḍremḍu) (numeral: ౧౨)
• Thai: สิบสอง (sìp sŏng) (numeral: ๑๒)
• Tibetan: བཅུ་གཉིས (bo) (bcu gnyis)
• Turkish: on iki (tr)
• Urdu: بارہ (ur) (baarah)
• Vilamovian: cwełf
• Volapük: degtel (vo)
• Welsh: deuddeg (vigesimal, traditional), un deg dau (decimal)
• West Frisian: tolf, tolve
• Yiddish: צוועלף (yi) (tsvelf)
• Zuni: asdemłan kwili yałdo'

See also

• Last: eleven. Next: thirteen

Noun

twelve (plural twelves)

1. A group of twelve items.

   Fractions would be a little easier if we counted by twelves.

2. A twelve-bore gun.
   • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), p. 880:

     In this way Von Esslin ‘inherited’ two fine hammerless twelves which he used once or twice for duck on the Camargue.

Related terms

• twelfth

See also

• dozen

Statistics

• Most common English words before 1923: consider · provided · Rome · #970: twelve · opposite · vast · isn't