Etymology

twin

T1W4I1N1

Today it means: 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. Full definition →

Middle English twinne ← Old English ġetwin ← Proto-Germanic *twinaz
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

twin · noun, verb1

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dwino-“twin”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*twinjaz
  3. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*twinaz“double/two each, twin”
  4. Old English · inherited fromġetwin
  5. Middle English · inherited fromtwinne
  6. English todaytwin

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”).

twin · adjective2

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*dwóh₁“two”
  2. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*twīhnaz“occurring in a pair; twofold; double”
  3. Old English · inherited fromtwin
  4. Middle English · inherited from*twin
  5. English todaytwin

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”).

Words from the same roots

Old Englishtwin all →

twine

Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁ all →

twodoubtduotwaindisparatetwinetwixtdouzepertwi-

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.