Jump to content

twenty

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Twenty

English

[edit]
English numbers (edit)
200
 ←  10  ←  19 20 21  →  30  → 
2
    Cardinal: twenty
    Ordinal: twentieth
    Abbreviated ordinal: 20th
    Adverbial: twenty times
    Multiplier: twentyfold
    Germanic collective: score
    Greek collective prefix: icosa-, icosi-
    Latinate collective prefix: viginti-
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

[edit]

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

[edit]

Numeral

[edit]

twenty

  1. The cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one.
    Synonym: onescore (rare)

Derived terms

[edit]

Descendants

[edit]
  • Hawaiian Creole: twenty
  • Tok Pisin: twenti

Translations

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

twenty (plural twenties)

  1. (in the plural) The numbers twenty (20) to twenty-nine (29).
    She looks like she's in her early twenties, perhaps 21 or 22 years old?
  2. (colloquial) A banknote with a denomination of 20.
    The waiter’s face lit up when I gave him a twenty.
    • 2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in The Guardian[1]:
      The more a shop looks as though it trades in farthings and ha’pennies, the more tenners and twenties you can expect to hand over at the till.
  3. (CB slang) 10-20 (location).
    What’s your twenty, good buddy?
  4. (UK, historical, military) An old English division of infantry.

Translations

[edit]

Hawaiian Creole

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Derived from English twenty.

Numeral

[edit]

twenty

  1. twenty (the cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one)
    • 2000, “Jesus Guys 1”, in Joseph Grimes, transl., Da Jesus Book: Hawaii Pidgin New Testament[3], Wycliffe Bible Translators, →ISBN, page 312:
      Dat time had like hundred twenty peopo dat trus Jesus. Dey wen come togedda, an Peter wen stand up fo talk.
      And in those days Peter rose up amongst the brothers, (a crowd of people about one hundred and twenty in number) and declared…

Middle English

[edit]
Middle English numbers (edit)
 ←  10  ←  19 20 30  → 
2[a], [b]
    Cardinal: twenty
    Ordinal: twentithe

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

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

Numeral

[edit]

twenty

  1. twenty (the cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one)
    • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 23–24:
      At nyght was come into that hostelrye
      Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye
      There came at nightfall to that hostelry
      Some nine and twenty in a company

Descendants

[edit]

References

[edit]

Scots

[edit]

Numeral

[edit]

twenty

  1. alternative form of twinty