noun
Meaning 1
A group of twelve items.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- Fractions would be a little easier if we counted by twelves.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
twelve
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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UK, US: twĕlv
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UK, US: /twɛlv/
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UK, US: [thw̥ɛɫv]
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Australian, New-Zealand: twûlv
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Australian, New-Zealand: twəlv
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Australian, New-Zealand: twĕlv
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Australian, New-Zealand: /twɜːlv/ [thw̥əːɫv]
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Australian, New-Zealand: /twəlv/ [thw̥əɫv]
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Australian, New-Zealand: /twelv/ [thw̥eɫv]
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[thw̥əːʊ̯v] l-vocalising
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[thw̥əʊ̯v] l-vocalising
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[thw̥eʊ̯v] l-vocalising
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twĕv Southern US, African-American Vernacular, dated
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/twɛv/ Southern US, African-American Vernacular, dated
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[thw̥ɛv] Southern US, African-American Vernacular, dated
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛlv
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CMU ARPABET: T W EH1 L V Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A twelve-bore gun.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A jury (normally composed of twelve persons).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: colloquial
Topics: law
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
The police; law enforcement, especially a narcotics officer.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
Front (front side of something, position in front of something).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: slang
Qualifier: by ellipsis of twelve o'clock
Topics: government, military, politics, war
Examples
- watch your twelve
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:twelve.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
num
Meaning 6
The cardinal number occurring after eleven and before thirteen, represented in Arabic numerals as 12 and in Roman numerals as XII.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- There are twelve months in a year.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
adjective satellite
Meaning 7
denoting a quantity consisting of 12 items or units
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: 12, xii, dozen
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 8
the cardinal number that is the sum of eleven and one
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: 12, XII, dozen
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: large integer
Narrower terms: boxcars
History
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”).
Across languages
Translations
233 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Afrikaans: twaalf — cardinal number 12
- Ainu: tu ikasima wan — cardinal number 12
- Albanian: dymbëdhjetë — cardinal number 12
- Southern Altai: он эки (on eki) — cardinal number 12
- Amharic: ዐሥራ ሁለት (ʿäśra hulät) — cardinal number 12
- Arabic: اِثْنَا عَشَرَ (iṯnā ʕašara) — cardinal number 12
- Arabic: اتناشر (itnašar) — cardinal number 12
- Arabic: اثنعش (iṯnaʕaš) — cardinal number 12
- Arabic: اتنعش (itnaʕaš) — cardinal number 12
- Aragonese: dotze — cardinal number 12
- Aragonese: doce — cardinal number 12
- Aragonese: doze — cardinal number 12
- Aramaic: תרעסר (tre‘sar) — cardinal number 12
- Aramaic: תרתעסרא (tarta‘esrē) — cardinal number 12
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܬܪܸܥܣܲܪ (triˁsar) — cardinal number 12
- Aramaic: ܬܪܥܣܪ (treʿsar) — cardinal number 12
- Aramaic: ܬܪܬܥܣܪܐ (tartaʿesrē) — cardinal number 12
- Armenian: տասներկու (tasnerku) — cardinal number 12
- Asturian: doce — cardinal number 12
- Aymara: tunka payani — cardinal number 12
- Azerbaijani: on iki — cardinal number 12
- Bashkir: ун ике (un ike) — cardinal number 12
- Basque: hamabi — cardinal number 12
- Belarusian: двана́ццаць (dvanáccacʹ) — cardinal number 12
- Bengali: বারো (barō) — cardinal number 12
- Central Bikol: kagduwa — cardinal number 12
- Breton: daouzek — cardinal number 12
- Bulgarian: двана́десет (dvanádeset) — cardinal number 12
- Bulgarian: двана́йсет (dvanájset) — cardinal number 12
- Burmese: ဆယ့်နှစ် (hcai.hnac) — cardinal number 12
- Buryat: арбан хоёр (arban xojor) — cardinal number 12
- Carpathian Rusyn: двана́дцять (dvanádcjatʹ) — cardinal number 12
- Catalan: dotze — cardinal number 12
- Cebuano: napulog duha — cardinal number 12
- Chamicuro: chunka ma'pojta — cardinal number 12
- Chechen: шийтта (šiı̇tta) — cardinal number 12
- Cherokee: ᏔᎵᏚ (talidu) — cardinal number 12
- Chichewa: khumi n'ziwiri — cardinal number 12
- Chickasaw: awa toklo — cardinal number 12
- Chickasaw: pokkó'li awa toklo — cardinal number 12
- Chinese Cantonese: 十二 (sap6 ji6) — cardinal number 12
- Hakka Chinese: 十二 (sṳ̍p-ngi) — cardinal number 12
- Chinese Mandarin: 十二 (shí'èr) — cardinal number 12
- Chinese Pidgin Russian: 獨凹那此地 — cardinal number 12
- Chuukese: engon me ru — cardinal number 12
- Chuvash: вуниккӗ (vunikkĕ) — cardinal number 12
- Chuvash: вуникӗ (vunik̬ĕ) — cardinal number 12
- Chuvash: вуник (vunik) — cardinal number 12
- Maore Comorian: kumi na mbili — cardinal number 12
- Ngazidja Comorian: kume na -ili — cardinal number 12
- Crimean Tatar: on eki — cardinal number 12
- Czech: dvanáct — cardinal number 12
- Dalmatian: dotco — cardinal number 12
- Danish: tolv — cardinal number 12
- Dena'ina: nutiha beq'di — cardinal number 12
- Dhivehi: ބާރަ (bāra) — cardinal number 12
- Dhivehi: ދޮޅަސް (doḷas) — cardinal number 12
- Dutch: twaalf — cardinal number 12
- Dzongkha: བཅུ་གཉིས (bcu gnyis) — cardinal number 12
- Elfdalian: tolv — cardinal number 12
- Esperanto: dek du — cardinal number 12
- Estonian: kaksteist — cardinal number 12
- Faroese: tólv — cardinal number 12
- Fijian: tini ka rua — cardinal number 12
- Finnish: kaksitoista — cardinal number 12
- French: douze — cardinal number 12
- West-Frisian: tolf — cardinal number 12
- West-Frisian: tolve — cardinal number 12
- Friulian: dodis — cardinal number 12
- Galician: doce — cardinal number 12
- Garifuna: dûsu — cardinal number 12
- Georgian: თორმეტი (tormeṭi) — cardinal number 12
- German: zwölf — cardinal number 12
- Gothic: 𐍄𐍅𐌰𐌻𐌹𐍆 (twalif) — cardinal number 12
- Greek: δώδεκα (dódeka) — cardinal number 12
- Ancient Greek: δώδεκα (dṓdeka) — cardinal number 12
- Ancient Greek: ιβ ́ — cardinal number 12
- Greenlandic: aqqaneq-marluk — cardinal number 12
- Gujarati: બાર (bār) — cardinal number 12
- Haitian Creole: douz — cardinal number 12
- Hawaiian: ʻumikūmālua — cardinal number 12
- Hebrew: שְׁתֵּים־עֶשְׂרֵה (shteim esre) — cardinal number 12
- Hebrew: שְׁנֵים־עָשָׂר (shneim asar) — cardinal number 12
- Hindi: बारह (bārah) — cardinal number 12
- Hopi: pakwt niikyang löqmuy siikya’ta — cardinal number 12
- Hungarian: tizenkettő — cardinal number 12
- Hungarian: tucat — cardinal number 12
- Hunsrik: zwellef — cardinal number 12
- Icelandic: tólf — cardinal number 12
- Ido: dek-e-du — cardinal number 12
- Indonesian: dua belas — cardinal number 12
- Ingrian: kakstoist — cardinal number 12
- Inupiaq: qulit malġuk — cardinal number 12
- Irish: dó dhéag — cardinal number 12
- Italian: dodici — cardinal number 12
- Japanese: 十二 (jūni) — cardinal number 12
- Kannada: ಹನ್ನೆರಡು (hanneraḍu) — cardinal number 12
- Kannada: ೧೨ — cardinal number 12
- Karelian: kaksitostu — cardinal number 12
- S'gaw Karen: တဆံခံ (ta hsee khee) — cardinal number 12
- Kazakh: он екі (on ekı) — cardinal number 12
- Khmer: ដប់ពីរ (dop pī) — cardinal number 12
- Komi-Permyak: даскык (daskyk) — cardinal number 12
- Korean: 열둘 (yeoldul) — cardinal number 12
- Korean: 십이 (sibi) — cardinal number 12
- Central Kurdish: دوانزە (dwanze) — cardinal number 12
- Central Kurdish: دوازدە (dwazde) — cardinal number 12
- Northern Kurdish: dazde — cardinal number 12
- Southern Kurdish: دوازدە (dwazde) — cardinal number 12
- Kyrgyz: он эки (on eki) — cardinal number 12
- Ladin: dodesc — cardinal number 12
- Lakota: akénuŋpa — cardinal number 12
- Lao: ສິບສອງ (sip sǭng) — cardinal number 12
- Latgalian: divpadsmit — cardinal number 12
- Latin: duodecim — cardinal number 12
- Latvian: divpadsmit — cardinal number 12
- Ligurian: dózze — cardinal number 12
- Lithuanian: dvylika — cardinal number 12
- Livonian: kakštuoistõn — cardinal number 12
- Lombard: dodes — cardinal number 12
- Louisiana Creole: douz — cardinal number 12
- Low German: twölf — cardinal number 12
- Low German: twolf — cardinal number 12
- Lü: ᦉᦲᧇᦉᦸᧂ (ṡiibṡoang) — cardinal number 12
- Luxembourgish: zwielef — cardinal number 12
- Macedonian: двана́есет (dvanáeset) — cardinal number 12
- Malagasy: roa ambinifolo — cardinal number 12
- Malay: dua belas — cardinal number 12
- Malay: sepuluh dua — cardinal number 12
- Malay: satu puluh dua — cardinal number 12
- Brunei Malay: dua balas — cardinal number 12
- Malayalam: പന്ത്രണ്ട് (pantraṇṭŭ) — cardinal number 12
- Maltese: tnax — cardinal number 12
- Manchu: ᠵᡠᠸᠠᠨ ᠵᡠᠸᡝ (juwan juwe) — cardinal number 12
- Manx: daa yeig — cardinal number 12
- Māori: ngahuru mā rua — cardinal number 12
- Māori: tekau mā rua — cardinal number 12
- Mauritian Creole: douz — cardinal number 12
- Middle English: twelve — cardinal number 12
- Central Sierra Miwok: ˀoṭíkšake·ny- — cardinal number 12
- Mon: စှ်ၜါ — cardinal number 12
- Mongolian: арван хоёр (arvan xojor) — cardinal number 12
- Mongolian: ᠠᠷᠪᠠᠨ ᠬᠣᠶᠠᠷ (arban qoyar) — cardinal number 12
- Mongolian: ᠑᠒) — cardinal number 12
- Khiamniungan Naga: tshìekǜlǖmīeh — cardinal number 12
- Classical Nahuatl: mahtlāctli omōme — cardinal number 12
- Nauruan: ata ma aro — cardinal number 12
- Navajo: naakitsʼáadah — cardinal number 12
- Norwegian: tolv — cardinal number 12
- Occitan: dotze — cardinal number 12
- Odia: ବାର (bāra) — cardinal number 12
- Ojibwe: ashi-niizh — cardinal number 12
- Old Church Slavonic: дъва на дєсѧтє (dŭva na desęte) — cardinal number 12
- Old English: twelf — cardinal number 12
- Pali: dvādasa — cardinal number 12
- Pennsylvania German: zwelf — cardinal number 12
- Pennsylvania German: zwelfe — cardinal number 12
- Persian: دوازده (davâzdah) — cardinal number 12
- Piedmontese: dódes — cardinal number 12
- Polish: dwanaście — cardinal number 12
- Polish: dwanaścioro — cardinal number 12
- Portuguese: doze — cardinal number 12
- Punjabi: ਬਾਰਾਂ (bārā̃) — cardinal number 12
- Quechua: chunka iskayniyuq — cardinal number 12
- Rohingya: baró — cardinal number 12
- Romagnol: dodṣ — cardinal number 12
- Romagnol: dodg — cardinal number 12
- Romani: deśuduj — cardinal number 12
- Kalo Finnish Romani: deȟ-o-dui — cardinal number 12
- Romansh: dudesch — cardinal number 12
- Russian: двена́дцать (dvenádcatʹ) — cardinal number 12
- Inari-Sami: kyehtnubáloh — cardinal number 12
- Kildin-Sami: кӯһтэмплоагкь (kūhtemplågk’) — cardinal number 12
- Northern Sami: guoktenuppelohkái — cardinal number 12
- Skolt-Sami: kuâtmlo — cardinal number 12
- Southern Sami: luhkie göökte — cardinal number 12
- Samoan: sefulu lua — cardinal number 12
- Sanskrit: द्वादश (dvādaśa) — cardinal number 12
- Santali: ᱜᱮᱞ ᱵᱟᱨ — cardinal number 12
- Sardinian: dóghi — cardinal number 12
- Scottish Gaelic: dà-dheug — cardinal number 12
- Scottish Gaelic: a dhà-dheug — cardinal number 12
- Serbo-Croatian: два́нае̄ст — cardinal number 12
- Serbo-Croatian: dvánaēst — cardinal number 12
- Shan: သိပ်းသွင် (síp sǎung) — cardinal number 12
- Sikkimese: བཅུ་གཉིས (bcu gnyis) — cardinal number 12
- Sinhalese: දොළහ (doḷaha) — cardinal number 12
- Slovak: dvanásť — cardinal number 12
- Slovene: dvanájst — cardinal number 12
- Lower Sorbian: dwanasćo — cardinal number 12
- Upper Sorbian: dwanaće — cardinal number 12
- Spanish: doce — cardinal number 12
- Sranan Tongo: twarfu — cardinal number 12
- Swahili: kumi na mbili — cardinal number 12
- Swedish: tolv — cardinal number 12
- Tagalog: labindalawa — cardinal number 12
- Tahitian: hō'ē 'ahuru ma piti — cardinal number 12
- Tajik: дувоздаҳ (duvozdah) — cardinal number 12
- Tamil: பன்னிரண்டு (paṉṉiraṇṭu) — cardinal number 12
- Tatar: унике (unike) — cardinal number 12
- Telugu: పండ్రెండు (paṇḍreṇḍu) — cardinal number 12
- Thai: สิบสอง (sìp-sɔ̌ɔng) — cardinal number 12
- Tibetan: བཅུ་གཉིས (bcu gnyis) — cardinal number 12
- Tigre: ዐስር ወክልኦት (ʿäsr wäkləʾot) — cardinal number 12
- Tigre: ዐስር ወክልኤ (ʿäsr wäkləʾe) — cardinal number 12
- Tigrinya: ዓሰርተ ክልተ (ʿasärtä kəltä) — cardinal number 12
- Tok Pisin: twelv — cardinal number 12
- Tok Pisin: wanpela ten tu — cardinal number 12
- Tongan: hongofulu mā ua — cardinal number 12
- Turkish: on iki — cardinal number 12
- Turkmen: on iki — cardinal number 12
- Ukrainian: двана́дцять (dvanádcjatʹ) — cardinal number 12
- Urdu: بارہ (bārah) — cardinal number 12
- Uyghur: ئون ئىككى (on ikki) — cardinal number 12
- Uzbek: oʻn ikki — cardinal number 12
- Venetan: dódexe — cardinal number 12
- Vietnamese: mười hai — cardinal number 12
- Vilamovian: cwełf — cardinal number 12
- Volapük: degtel — cardinal number 12
- Volapük: balsetel — cardinal number 12
- Walloon: doze — cardinal number 12
- Welsh: deuddeg — cardinal number 12
- Welsh: undeg dau — cardinal number 12
- Welsh: undeg dwy — cardinal number 12
- Wolof: fukk ak ñaar — cardinal number 12
- Yao (Africa): likumi kwisa wili — cardinal number 12
- Yiddish: צוועלף (tsvelf) — cardinal number 12
- Yucatec Maya: lajkaʼa — cardinal number 12
- Yup'ik: qula malruk — cardinal number 12
- Zazaki: dıwês (diq) — cardinal number 12
- Zazaki: desudıdı — cardinal number 12
- Zhuang: cib ngeih — cardinal number 12
- Zuni: asdemłan kwili yałdo' — cardinal number 12
Real reading context