twelve

twelve

Translingual

Etymology

From English twelve.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtwɛlv]

Noun

twelve

1. (international standards) NATO, ICAO, ITU& IMO radiotelephony code for 12, used only with o'clock to indicate direction

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English

English numbers ^(edit)

	120
←  11	12	13  →
Cardinal: twelve     Ordinal: twelfth     Latinate ordinal: duodecimary     Adverbial: twelve times     Multiplier: twelvefold     Latinate multiplier: duodecuple     Collective: dozen, twelvesome     Greek or Latinate collective: duodecad, duodecade     Greek collective prefix: dodeca-     Latinate collective prefix: duodeca-     Fractional: twelfth, dozenth     Latinate fractional prefix: unci-     Greek prefix: dodecato-     Number of musicians: duodecet

Alternative forms

• Arabic numerals: 12
• Roman numerals: XII
• twelue (obsolete)

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”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: twĕlv, IPA^(key): /twɛlv/, [tw̥ɛɫv]
• (General Australian, New Zealand) enPR: twəlv, IPA^(key): /twəlv/, [tw̥əɫv], enPR: twĕlv, IPA^(key): /twelv/, [tw̥eɫv]
• (Southern American English, AAVE, dated) enPR: twĕv, IPA^(key): /twɛv/, [tw̥ɛv][1]

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlv

Numeral

twelve

1. The cardinal number occurring after eleven and before thirteen, represented in Arabic numerals as 12 and in Roman numerals as XII.

   There are twelve months in a year.

Synonyms

• twelveteen (nonstandard)

Derived terms

• twelve-bar blues
• twelvesome

Related terms

• Ordinal: twelfth

Descendants

• → Japanese: トゥエルブ (tuerubu)

Translations

cardinal number 12

Afrikaans: twaalf (af) Albanian: dymbëdhjetë (sq) Amharic: ዐሥራ ሁለት (ʿäśra hulät) Arabic: اِثْنَا عَشَرَ‎ (iṯnā ʿašara) Egyptian Arabic: اتناشر‎ (itnašar) Hijazi Arabic: اثنعش‎ (iṭnaʿaš, iṯnaʿaš), اتنعش‎ (iṭnaʿaš) Aragonese: dotze, doce, doze Aramaic: Hebrew: תרעסר‎ m (tre‘sar), תרתעסרא‎ f (tarta‘esrē) Syriac: ܬܪܥܣܪ‎ m (treʿsar), ܬܪܬܥܣܪܐ‎ f (tartaʿesrē) Armenian: տասներկու (hy) (tasnerku) Asturian: doce (ast) Aymara: tunka payani Azerbaijani: on iki (az) Bashkir: ун ике (un ike) Basque: hamabi (eu) Belarusian: двана́ццаць (dvanáccacʹ) Bengali: বারো (bn) (baro) (numeral: ১২) Bikol Central: kagduwa Breton: daouzek (br) Brunei Malay: dua balas Bulgarian: двана́десет (dvanádeset), двана́йсет (dvanájset) Burmese: ဆယ့်နှစ် (my) (hcai.hnac) (numeral: ၁၂) Buryat: арбан хоёр (arban xojor) Catalan: dotze (ca) Cebuano: napulog duha Central Sierra Miwok: ˀoṭíkšake·ny- Chakma: please add this translation if you can Chamicuro: chunka ma'pojta Chechen: шийтта (šiitta) Cherokee: ᏔᎵᏚ (talidu) Chichewa: khumi n'ziwiri Chickasaw: awa toklo, pokkó'li awa toklo Chinese: Cantonese: 十二 (sap6 ji6) Hakka: 十二 (sṳ̍p-ngi) Mandarin: 十二 (zh) (shí'èr) (numeral: 拾貳) Chuukese: engon me ru Chuvash: вуниккӗ (vunikkĕ), вуникӗ (vunik̬ĕ), вуник (vunik) Classical Nahuatl: mahtlāctli omōme Crimean Tatar: on eki Czech: dvanáct (cs) Dalmatian: dotco Danish: tolv (da) Dena'ina: nutiha beq'di Dhivehi: ބާރަ‎ (bāra), ދޮޅަސް‎ (doḷas) Dutch: twaalf (nl) Dzongkha: བཅུ་གཉིས (bcu gnyis) Esperanto: dek du Estonian: kaksteist (et) Faroese: tólv (fo) Fijian: tini ka rua Finnish: kaksitoista (fi) French: douze (fr) Friulian: dodis Galician: doce (gl) Garifuna: dûsu Georgian: თორმეტი (ka) (tormeṭi) German: zwölf (de) Gothic: 𐍄𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌹𐍆 (twalif) Greek: δώδεκα (el) (dódeka) Ancient: δώδεκα (dṓdeka), ιβ΄ (numeral) Greenlandic: aqqaneq-marluk (kl) Gujarati: બાર (gu) (bār) (numeral: ૧૨) Haitian Creole: douz Hawaiian: ʻumikūmālua Hebrew: (used in counting) שְׁתֵּים־עֶשְׂרֵה‎ f (shteim esre), שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר‎ m (shneim asar) Hindi: बारह (hi) (bārah) Hopi: pakwt niikyang löqmuy siikya’ta Hungarian: tizenkettő (hu) Hunsrik: zwellef Icelandic: tólf (is) Ido: dek-e-du (io) Indonesian: dua belas (id) Ingrian: kakstoist Interlingua: (please verify) dece-duo , (please verify) duodece Irish: dó dhéag (ga) Italian: dodici (it) Japanese: 十二 (ja) (じゅうに, jūni) Kannada: ಹನ್ನೆರಡು (kn) (hanneraḍu), ೧೨ (12) (numeral) Karelian: kaksitostu Kazakh: он екі (kk) (on ekı) Khmer: ដប់ពីរ (dop pī) (numeral: ១២) Komi-Permyak: даскык (daskyk) Korean: 열둘 (ko) (yeoldul), 십이(十二) (ko) (sibi) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: دوانزە‎ (dwanze), دوازدە‎ (dwazde) Northern Kurdish: dazde (ku) Southern Kurdish: دوازدە‎ (dwazde) Kyrgyz: он эки (ky) (on eki) Ladin: dodesc Lakota: akénuŋpa Lao: ສິບສອງ (sip sǭng) (numeral: ໑໒) Latgalian: divpadsmit Latin: duodecim (la) Latvian: divpadsmit (lv) Ligurian: dózze Lithuanian: dvylika (lt) Livonian: kakštuoistõn Lombard: please add this translation if you can Louisiana Creole French: douz Low German: twölf (nds), twolf (nds) Luxembourgish: zwielef (lb) Lü: ᦉᦲᧇᦉᦸᧂ (ṡiibṡoang) (numeral: ᧑᧒) Macedonian: двана́есет (dvanáeset) Malagasy: roa ambinifolo Malay: dua belas (ms), sepuluh dua, satu puluh dua Malayalam: പന്ത്രണ്ട് (ml) (pantraṇṭŭ) Maltese: tnax Manchu: ᠵᡠᠸᠠᠨ ᠵᡠᠸᡝ (juwan juwe) Mansi: китыгхуйплов (kityghujplov) Manx: daa yeig Maore Comorian: kumi na mbili Maori: tekau mā rua (mi), ngahuru mā rua (older term) Middle English: twelve Mon: please add this translation if you can Mongolian: арван хоёр (arvan xojor) (numeral: ᠑᠒ (12)) Nauruan: ata ma aro Navajo: naakitsʼáadah Ngazidja Comorian: kume na -ili Norwegian: tolv (no) Occitan: dotze (oc) Ojibwe: ashi-niizh Old Church Slavonic: дъва на дєсѧтє (dŭva na desęte) (numeral: в҃і) Oriya: ବାର (or) (barô) (numeral: ୧୨ (12)) Pali: dvādasa Pennsylvania German: zwelf, zwelfe Persian: دوازده‎ (fa) (davâzdah) Piedmontese: dódes Polish: dwanaście (pl), (collective) dwanaścioro (pl) Portuguese: doze (pt) Punjabi: ਬਾਰਾਂ (bārā̃) (numeral: ੧੨) Quechua: chunka iskayniyuq Rakhine: please add this translation if you can Rohingya: baró Romagnol: please add this translation if you can Romani: deśuduj Kalo Finnish Romani: deȟ-o-dui Romanian: (please verify) doisprezece (ro) m, (informal) (please verify) doișpe (ro) m, (please verify) douăsprezece f or n, (informal) (please verify) douășpe f or n Romansch: dudesch (Grischun) Russian: двена́дцать (ru) (dvenádcatʹ) Rusyn: двана́дцять (dvanádcjatʹ) S'gaw Karen: တဆံခံ (ta hsee khee) Sami: Inari: kyehtnubáloh Northern: guoktenuppelohkái Skolt: kuâtmlo Southern: luhkie göökte Samoan: sefulu lua Sanskrit: द्वादश (sa) (dvādaśa) Santali: ᱜᱮᱞ ᱵᱟᱨ (gel bar) Sardinian: dóghi Scottish Gaelic: dà dheug, a dhà dheug Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: два́нае̄ст Roman: dvánaēst Shan: သိပ်းသွင် (síp sǎung) Sinhalese: දොළහ (doḷaha) Slovak: dvanásť (sk) Slovene: dvanájst (sl) Sorbian: Lower Sorbian: dwanasćo Upper Sorbian: dwanaće Southern Altai: он эки (on eki) Spanish: doce (es) Swedish: tolv (sv) Sylheti: please add this translation if you can Tagalog: labindalawa (tl) Tahitian: hō'ē 'ahuru ma piti Tajik: дувоздаҳ (tg) (duvozdah) Tamil: பன்னிரண்டு (ta) (paṉṉiraṇṭu) Tatar: унике (unike) Telugu: పండ్రెండు (te) (paṇḍreṇḍu) Thai: สิบสอง (th) (sìp-sɔ̌ɔng) (numeral: ๑๒) Tibetan: བཅུ་གཉིས (bcu gnyis) Tigre: ዐስር ወክልኦት (ʿäsr wäkləʾot), ዐስር ወክልኤ (ʿäsr wäkləʾe) Tigrinya: ዓሰርተ ክልተ (ʿasärtä kəltä) Tongan: hongofulu mā ua Turkish: on iki (tr) Turkmen: on iki (tk) Ukrainian: двана́дцять (uk) (dvanádcjatʹ) Urdu: بارہ‎ (bārah) Uyghur: ئون ئىككى‎ (ug) (on ikki) Uzbek: oʻn ikki (uz) Venetian: dódexe (vec) Vietnamese: mười hai Vilamovian: cwełf Volapük: degtel (vo), balsetel (older term, obsolete) Walloon: doze (wa) Welsh: deuddeg (cy) (vigesimal, traditional), undeg dau m (decimal), undeg dwy f (decimal) West Frisian: tolf (fy), tolve (fy) Wolof: fukk ak ñaar Yao: likumi kwisa wili Yiddish: צוועלף‎ (tsvelf) Yup'ik: qula malruk Zazaki: dıwês (diq), desudıdı Zhuang: cib ngeih Zuni: asdemłan kwili yałdo'

See also

• Last: eleven. Next: thirteen

Noun

twelve (plural twelves)

1. A group of twelve items.

   Fractions would be a little easier if we counted by twelves.

2. A twelve-bore gun.
   • 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance, Faber & Faber 2004 (Avignon Quintet), page 880:

     In this way Von Esslin ‘inherited’ two fine hammerless twelves which he used once or twice for duck on the Camargue.

3. (law, colloquial) A jury (normally composed of twelve persons).
4. (slang) The police; law enforcement, especially a narcotics officer.
5. (military slang, by ellipsis of twelve o'clock) Front (front side of something, position in front of something).

   watch your twelve

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:twelve.

Related terms

• twelfth

See also

• dozen

References

1. Hall, Joseph Sargent (March 2, 1942), “3. The Consonants”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, DOI:10.7312/hall93950, →ISBN, § 11, page 104.

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Middle English

Middle English numbers ^(edit)

←  11	12	13  →
Cardinal: twelve

Alternative forms

• twelfe, twelf, twælf, tuelf

Etymology

From inflected froms of Old English twelf, from Proto-West Germanic *twalif, in turn from Proto-Germanic *twalif.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtwɛlv(ə)/, /ˈtwɛlf(ə)/

Numeral

twelve

1. twelve

Descendants

• English: twelve
• Scots: twal, twol (obsolete twelf, twalf, tuelf)