adj
Meaning 1
twofold
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: not-comparable, rare
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
twain
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/tweɪn/
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[thw̥eɪn]
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -eɪn
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CMU ARPABET: T W EY1 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
name
Meaning 2
A standard software protocol and applications programming interface (API) that regulates communication between software applications and imaging devices such as scanners and digital cameras.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 3
A surname.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Meaning 4
A census-designated place in Plumas County, California, United States.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
Pair, couple.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
num
Meaning 6
two
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: dated
Examples
- But the warm twilight round us twain will never rise again.
- Bring me these twain cups of wine and water, and let us drink from the one we feel more befitting of this day.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To part in twain; divide; sunder.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
two items of the same kind
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: couple, pair, twosome, brace, span, yoke, couplet, distich, duo, duet, dyad, duad
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: two, 2, II, deuce
Narrower terms: doubleton
History
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1der. Proto-Germanic *twai Proto-West Germanic *twai-der. Old English twēġen Middle English tweyne English twain PIE word *dwóh1 From Middle English tweyne, tweien, twaine, from Old English twēġen m (“two”), from Proto-West Germanic *twai-, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh1. Cognate with Saterland Frisian twäin, Low German twene, German zween. More at two. The word outlasted the breakdown of gender in Middle English and survived as a secondary form of two, then especially in the cases where the numeral follows a noun. Its continuation into modern times was aided by its use in KJV, the Marriage Service, in poetry (where it is commonly used as a rhyme word), and in oral use where it is necessary to be clear that two and not to or too is meant.
From twain, in reference to a line in Rudyard Kipling's poem The Ballad of East and West: "never the twain shall meet". This was chosen to reflect the difficulty, at the time, of connecting scanners and personal computers.
English surname meaning "divided in two," from the numeral/adjective twain.
From Middle English twaynen, from twayne (“two”, numeral) (see Etymology 1 above).
Real reading context