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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

twin.

Either of two people (or, less commonly, animals) who shared the same uterus at the same time; one who was born at the same birth as a sibling.

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/twɪn/[tʰw̥ɪn]
  1. Either of two people (or, less commonly, animals) who shared the same uterus at the same time; one who was born at the same birth as a sibling.

    twin girls, twin daughters, twin sisters, twin boys, twin sons, twin brothers, twin babies, twin children
    Katie is Jessica's twin.
  2. Either of two similar or closely related objects, plans, institutions, people, etc.

    broadly
    Your idea is the twin of mine.
  3. Either of two similar or closely related objects, plans, institutions, people, etc. Either of two or more things, people, etc. that share a single feature.

    broadly · figuratively
    He is my twin (wearing the same shirt, driving the same car, etc.).
  4. Either of two similar or closely related objects, plans, institutions, people, etc. A friendly term of address, typically for men.

    broadly · slang
    Yo, twin, lemme rap at ya.
  5. Contains or comprises a pair A room in a hotel, guesthouse, etc. with two beds; a twin room.

  6. Contains or comprises a pair A twin crystal.

  7. Contains or comprises a pair A two-engine aircraft.

  8. Refers to a specific size A twin-size mattress.

    US
  9. Refers to a specific size A bed, set of sheets, etc., designed for a twin-size mattress.

    US
Where this word comes from

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English twinne, twynne, from Old English ġetwin, ġetwinn (“twin, multiple”, noun) and twinn (“twin, two-fold, double, two by two”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *twinaz (“double/two each, twin”), Proto-Germanic *twinjaz, *twīhnaz (“two each”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwino- (“twin”), from *dwóh₁ (“two”). Cognate with Scots twyn (“twin”), Dutch tweeling (“twin”), German Zwilling (“twin”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish tvilling (“twin”), Faroese tvinnur (“a double set”), Icelandic tvenna (“duo, pair”), Lithuanian dvynys (“twin”), Russian двойня (dvojnja, “twin”).

verb/twɪn/[tʰw̥ɪn]
  1. To separate, divide.

    transitive
  2. To split, part; to go away, depart.

    intransitive
  3. To join, unite; to form links between (now especially of two places in different countries); to pair with.

    passive · usually
    Reading, the English town, is twinned with Clonmel in Ireland.
    Coventry twinned with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, both cities having been heavily bombed during the war.
  4. To give birth to twins.

    intransitive
  5. To be, or be like, a twin to (someone else); to match in some way.

    transitive
  6. To be, or be like, a pair of twins (for example, to dress identically); to be paired or suited.

    intransitive
Where this word comes from

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English twinne, twynne, from Old English ġetwin, ġetwinn (“twin, multiple”, noun) and twinn (“twin, two-fold, double, two by two”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *twinaz (“double/two each, twin”), Proto-Germanic *twinjaz, *twīhnaz (“two each”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwino- (“twin”), from *dwóh₁ (“two”). Cognate with Scots twyn (“twin”), Dutch tweeling (“twin”), German Zwilling (“twin”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish tvilling (“twin”), Faroese tvinnur (“a double set”), Icelandic tvenna (“duo, pair”), Lithuanian dvynys (“twin”), Russian двойня (dvojnja, “twin”).

adj/twɪn/[tʰw̥ɪn]
  1. Double; dual; occurring as a matching pair.

    not-comparable
    twin beds, twin socks
  2. Forming a pair of twins.

    not-comparable
    the twin boys
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *twin, *twyn, from Old English twin, twinn (“twin; double”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *twīhnaz (“occurring in a pair; twofold; double”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”). Cognate with Icelandic tvennur (“double”), Gothic 𐍄𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌹 (tweihnai, “two each”).

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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.