twelve
UK/twɛlv/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/twɜːlv/ [tʰw̥əːɫv]
twelve numeral: the cardinal number occurring after eleven and before thirteen, represented in Arabic numerals as 12 and in Roman numerals as XII.
Numeral
twelve
- 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.
- Hopper points out that duodecads have been prominent in every ancient civilization and cites as examples twelve spokes in the wheel of the Hindu Rta, the twelve gates of hell where Egyptian Ra must spend the twelve hours of night, the twelve tribes of Israel, the twelve labors of Hercules, [...]1972, Eleanor Webster Bulatkin, Structural Arithmetic Metaphor in the Oxford "Roland.", Ohio State University Press, →ISBN, page 10
- Synonyms:
- twelveteen
Noun
twelve (plural twelves)
- A group of twelve items.
- Fractions would be a little easier if we counted by twelves.
- A twelve-bore gun.
- In this way Von Esslin ‘inherited’ two fine hammerless twelves which he used once or twice for duck on the Camargue.1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 880
- A jury (normally composed of twelve persons).
- The police; law enforcement, especially a narcotics officer.
- Front (front side of something, position in front of something).
- watch your twelve
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:twelve.
twelve meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
twelve in Hindi
- cardinal number 12
- बारह bārah
twelve in Tamil
- cardinal number 12
- பன்னிரண்டு paṉṉiraṇṭu
twelve in Marathi
- twelve
- बारा bārā
twelve in Urdu
- cardinal number 12
- بارہ bārah
More languagesFewer languages
- twelve in Bengali
- বারো barō
- twelve in Telugu
- పండ్రెండు paṇḍreṇḍu
- twelve in Malayalam
- പന്ത്രണ്ട് pantraṇṭŭ
- twelve in Kannada
- ಹನ್ನೆರಡು hanneraḍu, ೧೨
- twelve in Punjabi
- ਬਾਰਾਂ bārā̃
- twelve in Gujarati
- બાર bār
- twelve in Odia
- ବାର bāra
- twelve in Sanskrit
- द्वादश dvādaśa
- twelve in Sinhala
- දොළහ doḷaha
- twelve in Assamese
- বাৰ baro
- twelve in Nepali
- बाह्र bāhra
- twelve in Pashto
- دوولس dwolas
- twelve in Tagalog
- labindalawa
- twelve in Arabic
- اِثْنَا عَشَرَ iṯnā ʕašara
- twelve in Malay
- dua belas, sepuluh dua, satu puluh dua
- twelve in Indonesian
- dua belas
- twelve in Persian
- دوازده davâzdah
- twelve in Thai
- สิบสอง sìp-sɔ̌ɔng
- twelve in Vietnamese
- mười hai
- twelve in Myanmar
- ဆယ့်နှစ် hcai.hnac
- Dhivehi
- ބާރަ bāra, ދޮޅަސް doḷas
- Dzongkha
- བཅུ་གཉིས bcu gnyis
Examples of twelve in a sentence
- Trim the stick down to a length of about twelve inches.
- He bowled a record twelve maiden overs in his spell of 8-33 in 21 overs.
- The record shows that you have been late twelve times this year.
Synonyms of twelve
Forms of twelve
| Numeral | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | 12 |
| alternative form | XII |
| alternative form (obsolete) | twelue |
| Noun | |
| plural | twelves |
Origin of twelve
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”).
Words formed from twelve
- feel twelve feet tall
- grade twelve
- it's better to be judged by twelve than to be carried by six
- twelfty
- twelve-bar blues
- twelve bar blues
- twelve godfathers
- twelve good men and true
- twelve hundred
- twelve-inch
- twelveish
- twelveling
- Twelve Mile
- Twelve Mile Creek
- Twelve Mile Lake
- twelvemo
- twelvemonth
- twelveness
- twelve-nine
- twelve-note
- twelve-ounce curls
- twelvepence
- twelvepenny
- twelve penny nail
- twelve-penny nail
- twelveplex
- twelve-pounder
- twelver
- twelvescore
- twelvesies
- twelvesome
- twelve-speed
- twelve-stepper
- twelve stepper
- twelve-step program
- Twelvetide
- twelve-tone
- twelve-tone technique
- twelvish
Phrases with twelve
Words that rhyme with twelve
Questions about twelve
- What does twelve mean?
- Twelve means the cardinal number occurring after eleven and before thirteen, represented in Arabic numerals as 12 and in Roman numerals as XII.
- What is twelve in Hindi?
- Twelve in Hindi is बारह (bārah). See Twelve meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is twelve?
- Twelve can be a numeral or a noun.
- How do you pronounce twelve?
- Twelve is pronounced /twɛlv/ (UK).
Words near twelve in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: twelve (page history and authors); बारा (Marathi) (page history and authors); বাৰ (Assamese) (page history and authors); बाह्र (Nepali) (page history and authors); دوولس (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-twelve.ogg.
Cite this entry: “twelve.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/twelve. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.