twelve
Plural: twelves
Noun
- The cardinal number following eleven.
- the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one
- A group of twelve items.
- A twelve-bore gun.
- A jury (normally composed of twelve persons).
- The police; law enforcement, especially a narcotics officer.
- Front (front side of something, position in front of something).
Adjective Satellite
- denoting a quantity consisting of 12 items or units
Num
- The cardinal number occurring after eleven and before thirteen, represented in Arabic numerals as 12 and in Roman numerals as XII.
Examples
- Fractions would be a little easier if we counted by twelves.
- It took him TWELVE minutes to find the optimal word from his challenging rack.
- There are twelve months in a year.
- watch your twelve
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English twelve, from Old English twelf (“twelve”), from Proto-Germanic *twalif, an old compound of *twa- (“two”) and *-lif (“left over”) (i.e., two left over after having already counted to ten), from Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“leave, remain”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian tweelf, tweelif, tweelich (“twelve”), West Frisian tolve (“twelve”), Dutch twaalf (“twelve”), German Low German twalf, twalv (“twelve”), German zwölf (“twelve”), Danish, Swedish and Norwegian tolv (“twelve”), Icelandic tólf (“twelve”).
Synonyms
12, dozen, XII, xii, twelveteen
Scrabble Score: 12
twelve: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordtwelve: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
twelve: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary