Meanings
alternative 'twixt
- archaicliterarypoeticSynonym of betwixt (“between”).
O! thou thrice happy Shire, confined so to bee / Twixt two so famous Floods, as Mersey is, and Dee.
1612, Michael Drayton, “The Eleventh Song”, in [John Selden], editor, Poly-Olbion. Or A Chorographicall Description of Tracts, Riuers, Mountaines, Forests, and Other Parts of this Renowned Isle of Great Britaine, […], London: […] [Humphrey Lownes] for M[athew] Lownes; I[ohn] Browne; I[ohn] Helme; I[ohn] Busbie, →OCLC, page 1725 more examples
The roote of Hyachinthe is drie in the firſt degree, and colde in the ſeconde: but the ſeede is drie in the thirde degree, Yet temperate twixt heate and colde.
1578, Rembert Dodoens, “Of the Hyacinthes”, in Henry Lyte, transl., A Niewe Herball, or Historie of Plantes: […], London: […] [Henry [i.e., Hendrik van der] Loë for] Gerard Dewes, […], →OCLC, 2nd part (Pleasant and Sweete Smelling Floures, Herbes and Seedes, and Suche Like), page 206Since I haue your good leaue to go avvay, / I vvill make haſt. But till I come againe, / No bed ſhall ere [e'er] be guilty of my ſtay, / Nor reſt be interpoſer tvvixt vs tvvain.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], signature G, rectoI haue bedymn'd / The Noone tide Sun, call'd forth the mutenous vvindes, / And tvvixt the greene Sea, and the azur'd vault / Set roaring vvarre: […]
1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 16, column 2[H]e had himſelfe / The Lands and VVaters, ’twixt your Throne and his, / Meaſur’d, to looke vpon you; vvhom he loues […]
c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 299, column 2I then tooke a ſtreight / That gaue my ſelfe, and ſome fevv more receipt / Tvvixt Scylla, and Charybdis; […]
1614–1615, Homer, “The XII. Booke of Homers Odysses”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC, page 187
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*dwóh₁“two”
- Proto-Germanic*twiskaz“double, twofold”
- Old Englishbetwix
- Middle Englishtuix
- Englishtwixt
From Middle English tuix, twyx (“among; between”) + English -t (excrescent ending). Tuix, twyx is an aphetic form of atwix, atwixen, atwixt (“between”), or bitwix, bitwixe, bitwixen, bitwixt (“among; between”): * Atwixt is derived from a- (prefix forming adverb (and derived adjectives and prepositions) expressing activity, condition, position, etc.) + bitwixt. * Bitwixt is derived from Old English betwix, betweox (“between”), from be- (intensifying prefix) + tweox (“twofold”) (from Proto-Germanic *twiskaz (“double, twofold”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (“two”)).
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with twixt
All rhymes →Cite this entry
twixt. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/twixt
“twixt.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/twixt. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “twixt,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/twixt.
Source: twixt on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.