twixt

See also: 'twixt

English

WOTD – 13 June 2026

Etymology

From Middle English tuix, twyx (“among; between”)^[1] + English -t (excrescent ending). Tuix, twyx is an aphetic form of atwix, atwixen, atwixt (“between”),^[2] or bitwix, bitwixe, bitwixen, bitwixt (“among; between”):^[3]

Atwixt is derived from a- (prefix forming adverb (and derived adjectives and prepositions) expressing activity, condition, position, etc.)^[4]^[5] + bitwixt.^[6]^[7]
Bitwixt is derived from Old English betwix, betweox (“between”),^[8] from be- (intensifying prefix)^[9] + tweox (“twofold”)^[10] (from Proto-Germanic *twiskaz (“double, twofold”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)).

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /twɪkst/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
Audio (General American): (file)
Rhymes: -ɪkst

Preposition

twixt

(literary, poetic, archaic) Synonym of betwixt (“between”).
Synonym: (archaic except UK, dialectal) atwixt
- 1578, Rembert Dodoens, “Of the Hyacinthes”, in Henry Lyte, transl., A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes: […], London: […] [Henry [i.e., Hendrik van der] Loë for] Gerard Dewes, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Pleasant and Sweete Smelling Floures, Herbes and Seedes, and Suche Like), page 206:
  The roote of Hyachinthe is drie in the firſt degree, and colde in the ſeconde: but the ſeede is drie in the thirde degree, Yet temperate twixt heate and colde.
- c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], signature G, recto:
  Since I haue your good leaue to go avvay, / I vvill make haſt. But till I come againe, / No bed ſhall ere [e'er] be guilty of my ſtay, / Nor reſt be interpoſer tvvixt vs tvvain.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 16, column 2:
  I haue bedymn'd / The Noone tide Sun, call'd forth the mutenous vvindes, / And tvvixt the greene Sea, and the azur'd vault / Set roaring vvarre: […]
- c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 299, column 2:
  [H]e had himſelfe / The Lands and VVaters, ’twixt your Throne and his, / Meaſur’d, to looke vpon you; vvhom he loues […]
- 1612, Michael Drayton, “The Eleventh Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 172:
  O! thou thrice happy Shire, confined so to bee / Twixt two so famous Floods, as Mersey is, and Dee.
- 1614–1615, Homer, “The XII. Booke of Homers Odysses”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC, page 187:
  I then tooke a ſtreight / That gaue my ſelfe, and ſome fevv more receipt / Tvvixt Scylla, and Charybdis; […]
- 1634, T[homas] H[erbert], “Description of Shiras”, in A Relation of Some Yeares Trauaile, Begunne Anno 1626. into Afrique and the Greater Asia, […], London: […] William Stansby, and Jacob Bloome, →OCLC, page 65:
  From Chil-manor, vve rode to Moyovvn, eight Farſangs, or foure and tvventie miles, tvvixt vvhich tvvo Tovvnes is a high impregnable Mount, at vvhoſe top has ſtood a Caſtle, ſo fortified by nature and induſtrie, that it vvas thought impregnable.
- 1662 (indicated as 1663), [Samuel Butler], “Canto I”, in Hudibras. The First Part. […], London: […] J. G. for Richard Marriot, […], →OCLC, page 26:
  Thither the Knight his courſe did ſtear, / To keep the peace ’tvvixt Dog and Bear; […]
- 1702, [John Pomfret], “Upon the Divine Attributes. A Pindarick Essay.”, in Miscellany Poems on Several Occasions, […], London: […] John Place […], →OCLC, stanza VI, pages 141–142:
  The feeble Bark of Life he [God] ſaves, / Amidſt the fury of Tempeſtuous VVaves, / From all the dangers he foreſees, or fears; / Yet ev'ry hour ’tvvixt Sylla and Charibdis ſtears?
- 1745, [Edward Young], “Night the Ninth and Last. The Consolation. Containing, among Other Things, I. A Moral Survey of the Nocturnal Heavens. II. A Night-address to the Deity. To which are Annex’d, Some Thoughts, Occasioned by the Present Juncture: […]”, in [The Complaint: Or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality], London: […] G[eorge] Hawkins, […]; [a]nd sold by M[ary] Cooper, […], →OCLC, page 36:
  In thy nocturnal Rove, one Moment halt, / ’Tvvixt Stage and Stage, of Riot, and Cabal; […]
- 1851 May 29, Sojourner Truth, reported by Frances D[ana] Gage, “Ohio [Reminiscences by Frances D. Gage. Sojourner Truth. [Ain’t I a Woman?]]”, in Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage, editors, History of Woman Suffrage […], volume I (1848–1861), Rochester, N.Y.; London: Susan B. Anthony; Charles Mann […], published 1887, →OCLC, page 116:
  I thik dat ’twixt de niggers of de Souf and de womin at de Norf, all talkin’ ’bout rights, de white men will be in a fix pretty soon.
- 1899, W[illiam] B[utler] Yeats, “The Hosting of the Sidhe”, in The Wind among the Reeds, New York, N.Y.; London: John Lane, The Bodley Head, →OCLC, page 2:
  The host is rushing ’twixt night and day, / And where is there hope or deed as fair? / Caolte tossing his burning hair, / And Niamh calling Away, come away.

Alternative forms

'twixt

Derived terms

there's many a slip twixt cup and lip
Twixmas, Twixtmas
twixt and (“before”) (Northern England, Scotland, obsolete)
twixtbrain, 'twixt-brain (archaic)
twixter

Related terms

Translations

synonym of betwixt — see between,‎ betwixt

References

^ “twix, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “atwix(en, atwixt, prep. and adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “bitwix(e, prep.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ “a-, pref.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
^ Compare “a-, pref.³”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024; “a-², pref.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
^ Compare “atwixt, prep.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
^ “atwixt, prep.”, in Merriam-Webster.com Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
^ Joseph Bosworth (1882), “be-tweoh”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 95, column 2.
^ Joseph Bosworth (1882), “be-, bi-, big-, and bí-”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 69, column 2.
^ Compare Joseph Bosworth (1882), “tweo-”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1023, column 2; Joseph Bosworth (1882), “twi-”, in T[homas] Northcote Toller, editor, An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 1024, column 2.