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twelve.

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

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

num/twɛlv/UK, US[tʰw̥ɛɫv]UK, US/twɜːlv/ [tʰw̥əːɫv]Australia, New-Zealand/twəlv/ [tʰw̥əɫv]Australia, New-Zealand

  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.
Where this word comes from

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”).

noun/twɛlv/UK, US[tʰw̥ɛɫv]UK, US/twɜːlv/ [tʰw̥əːɫv]Australia, New-Zealand/twəlv/ [tʰw̥əɫv]Australia, New-Zealand

  1. A group of twelve items.

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

  2. A twelve-bore gun.

  3. A jury (normally composed of twelve persons).

    colloquial

  4. The police; law enforcement, especially a narcotics officer.

    slang

  5. Front (front side of something, position in front of something).

    slang
    watch your twelve
Where this word comes from

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”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.