twin

English

Alternative forms

• twynne (obsolete)

Etymology

Old English twinn, earlier ġetwinn, from Germanic.

Pronunciation

• IPA: /twɪn/, SAMPA: /twIn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪn

Noun

twin (plural twins)

1. Either of two people (or, less commonly, animals) who shared the same uterus at the same time; one who was born at the same birth as a sibling.
2. Either of two similar or closely related objects, entities etc.
3. A room in a hotel, guesthouse, etc. with two beds; a twin room
4. (US) A twin size mattress or a bed designed for such a mattress.
5. A twin crystal.

Derived terms

• conjoined twin
• identical twin
• Siamese twin

Translations

either of two people who shared the same uterus, or of two similar or closely related objects

Afrikaans: tweeling Albanian: binjak (sq) m. Arabic: توأم (tau’á:m) m. Armenian: երկվորյակ (hy) (erkvoryak) Asturian: ximelu (ast) m. Basque: biki (eu) Bengali: যমজ (bn) (yawmoj) Bosnian: suprug (bs) Breton: gevell (br) Bulgarian: близнак (bliznak) m. Catalan: bessó (ca) m. Chamicuro: ma'pwalo Chinese: Mandarin: 雙胞胎 (zh), 双胞胎 (zh) (shuāngbāotāi) Cornish: gevell (kw) m., gevelles (kw) f. Crimean Tatar: egiz Croatian: blizanac (hr) m. Czech: dvojče (cs) n. Danish: tvilling (da) c. Dutch: tweeling (nl) m. Esperanto: ĝemelo (eo) Estonian: kaksik (et) Faroese: tvíburi (fo) Finnish: kaksonen (fi) French: jumeau (fr) m. Galician: xemelgo (gl) m. Georgian: ტყუპი (ka) (tqupi) German: Zwilling (de) m. Greek: δίδυμος (el) (dídymos) c. Haitian Creole: jimo, marasa Hebrew: תְּאוֹם (tom) Hindi: जुड़वाँ (hi) (juṛvā̃) m., यमज (hi) (yamaj) Hungarian: iker (hu) Icelandic: tvíburi (is) m. Ido: jemelo (io) Indonesian: kembar (id) Irish: leathchúpla (ga) m. Italian: gemello (it) m. Japanese: 双子の一人 (ふたごのひとり, futago no hitori) Korean: 쌍둥이 (ssangdong-i), 한쌍으로 하십시요 (hanssang-euro hasipsiyo)

Latgalian: dveiņs Latin: geminus (la) m. Latvian: dvīnis Lithuanian: dvynys Macedonian: близнак (mk) (blíznak) m., близначка (mk) (blíznačka) f. Malay: kembar (ms) Mongolian: ихэр (iher) Norwegian: Bokmål: tvilling (no) m. Nynorsk: tvilling (nn) m. Occitan: besson (oc) m. Old Church Slavonic: близньць (bliznĭcĭ) m. Persian: همزاد (hamzâd) Polish: bliźniak (pl) m. Portuguese: gêmeo (pt) m. Punjabi: (juvvu) Romanian: geamăn (ro) m. Romansch: schumellin (rm) m., schumellina (rm) f. Russian: близнец (ru) (bliznéc) m. Scottish Gaelic: leth-aon (gd) m. Serbian: близанац (blizanac) m. Slovak: dvojča Slovene: dvójček (sl) m., dvójčica (sl) f. Spanish: gemelo m., mellizo m. (strictly speaking, gemelo is only for monozygotic siblings, whereas dizygotic siblings should always be called mellizos), cuate m. (Mexico - dizygotic sibling), cuache m. (Guatemala - dizygotic sibling), guacho (Honduras), guares m. pl. (Puerto Rico), jimagua m. (Cuba), morocho m. (Venezuela - dizygotic sibling) Swahili: pacha (sw) Swedish: tvilling (sv) c. Tagalog: kambal Thai: แฝด (fàet) Turkish: çift (tr) Ukrainian: близнюк (uk) (blyznjúk) m. Urdu: جڑواں (ur) (juṛvā̃) m. Vietnamese: trẻ sinh đôi Volapük: (male or female) telädan (vo), (male) hitelädan (vo), (female) jitelädan (vo) Welsh: gefell (cy) m., gefeilles (cy) f. West Frisian: twilling (fy) (despite the ending, it is used to imply a set of twins and is therefore construed as a plural) Yiddish: צווילינג (yi) (tsviling) m.

hotel room

Finnish: kahden hengen huone (fi)

Swahili: pacha (sw)

See also

• twyndyllyng
• (hotel room): single, double

Adjective

twin (not comparable)

1. Forming a pair of twins.

   the twin boys

2. Forming a matched pair.

   twin socks

Translations

forming a pair of twins

Breton: gevell (br) Catalan: bessó (ca) Dutch: tweelings- Finnish: kaksos-, kaksois- German: Zwillings-

Greek: δίδυμος (el) (dídymos) Macedonian: близнаци (mk) (blíznaci) m. pl., близначки (mk) (blíznački) f. pl. Polish: bliźniaczy m., bliźniacza f., bliźniacze n. Portuguese: gêmeo (pt) Swahili: pacha (sw)

forming a matched pair

Catalan: bessó (ca) Finnish: parillinen (fi) Hungarian: pár (hu)

Macedonian: парен (mk) (páren) m., удвоен (mk) (údvoen) m., спарен (mk) (spáren) m. Portuguese: gêmeo (pt) Swahili: pacha (sw)

Verb

twin (third-person singular simple present twins, present participle twinning, simple past and past participle twinned)

1. (transitive, obsolete except, Scotland) To separate, divide.
2. (intransitive, obsolete except, Scotland) To split, part; to go away, depart.
3. (usually in the passive) To join, unite; to form links between (now especially of two places in different countries).

   Placetown in England is twinned with Machinville in France.

   For example, Coventry twinned with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, both cities having been heavily bombed during the war.

4. (intransitive) To give birth to twins.
   • 1874, Thomas Hardy, Far from the Madding Crowd

     “I’ve run to tell ye,” said the junior shepherd, supporting his exhausted youthful frame against the doorpost, “that you must come directly. Two more ewes have twinned — that’s what’s the matter, Shepherd Oak.”

See also

• sister city

External links

• twin in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• twin in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• twin at OneLook Dictionary Search