betwixt

English

Etymology

From Middle English bitwixe, from Old English betweox, from Proto-Germanic *twiskaz (“twofold, double”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“twice, doubly; in two”). By surface analysis, be- (“by, near, around”) +‎ twixt (“between”). Compare Saterland Frisian twiske (“between”), Dutch tussen, German zwischen.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bɪˈtwɪkst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkst

Preposition

betwixt

1. (literary or archaic) Between.
   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     There was some speech of marriage / Betwixt myself and her.

   • 1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], “I. Being Introductory.”, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 13:

     The times have changed in nothing more (we follow as we were wont the manuscript of Peter Pattieson,) than in the rapid conveyance of intelligence and communication betwixt one part of Scotland and another.

   • 1898, J. Meade Falkner, chapter 3, in Moonfleet, London, Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934:

     When I saw the coffin I knew that I was respited, for, as I judged, there was space between it and the wall behind enough to contain my little carcass; and in a second I had put out the candle, scrambled up the shelves, half-stunned my senses with dashing my head against the roof, and squeezed my body betwixt wall and coffin.

Alternative forms

• betwixte (obsolete)
• betwyxt (obsolete)

Derived terms

• betwixt and between
• betwixtness
• 'twixt, twixt

Translations

between

• Arabic: بَيْن (ar) (bayn)

  Egyptian Arabic: بين (been)

• Danish: imellem (da)
• Dutch: tussen (nl)
• Esperanto: inter (eo)
• French: entre (fr)
• German: zwischen (de)
• Indonesian: antara (id)
• Old English: betwēox
• Portuguese: entre (pt)
• Romanian: între (ro)
• Russian: ме́жду (ru) (méždu), посреди (ru) (posredi)
• Spanish: entre (es)
• Swedish: mellan (sv)
• Turkish: beyninde (tr)