twelve

The story

1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*leyp-“leave, remain”
2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*twalif
3. Old English · inherited fromtwelf“twelve”
4. Middle English · inherited fromtwelve
5. English todaytwelve

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 from the same roots