twenty
See also: Twenty
English
| 200 | ||||
| ← 10 | ← 19 | 20 | 21 → | 30 → |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | ||||
| Cardinal: twenty Ordinal: twentieth Adverbial: twenty times Multiplier: twentyfold | ||||
Alternative forms
- Arabic numerals: 20 (see for numerical forms in other scripts)
- Roman numerals: XX
Etymology
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
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈtwɛnti/, [ˈtw̥ɛ̃nti]
- (General American) enPR: twĕnʹtē, IPA(key): /ˈtwɛnti/, [ˈtw̥ɛɾ̃i], /ˈtwɛni/, [ˈtw̥ɛ̃ɾ̃i]
- (parts of the US and Canada) IPA(key): /ˈtwʌn(t)i/, /ˈtwʊn(t)i/
Audio (UK) (file) Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɛnti, -ʌnti
Numeral
twenty
- The cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one.
Synonyms
- score
Derived terms
- twenties
- twentieth
- twentyfold
- twenty to the dozen
- twenty-twenty
Descendants
- Tok Pisin: twenti
Translations
cardinal number
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Noun
twenty (plural twenties)
- (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:
- 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.
- (CB slang) 10-20 (location).
- What’s your twenty, good buddy?
- 2012, Tom Dumont; Tony Kanal; Gwen Stefani, Settle Down, Vevo, 0:54 from the start:
- What's your twenty?
Where's your brain?
Checking in to check you out
Concerned about your whereabouts
- (UK, historical, military) An old English division of infantry.
Translations
a banknote with a denomination of 20
|
CB slang: location
Middle English
| ← 10 | ← 19 | 20 | 30 → | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2[a], [b] | ||||
| Cardinal: twenty Ordinal: twentithe | ||||
Alternative forms
- thewenti, thwenti, tuenti, tuentie, tweinti, twenti, twentig, twentie, twenntiȝ, twentti, twinti, twonti, twontie
Etymology
From Old English twēntiġ, from Proto-Germanic *twai tigiwiz; equivalent to twei + -ty.
Numeral
twenty
- twenty
- 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
- There came at nightfall to that hostelry
-
Descendants
- English: twenty
- Tok Pisin: twenti
- Scots: twinty, twenty, tuenty
- Yola: dwanty
References
- “twentī, num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.