# twelve
## Translingual
### Alternative forms

* Twelve, TWELVE

### Etymology

Borrowed from English twelve.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈtwɛlv]

### Noun

twelve
* (international standards) NATO, ICAO, ITU & IMO radiotelephony code for 12, used only with o'clock to indicate direction

## English
### Alternative forms

* Arabic numerals: 12
* Roman numerals: XII
* twelue (obsolete)

### Etymology

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”).

### Pronunciation

* (UK, US) enPR: twĕlv, IPA: /twɛlv/, [tw̥ɛɫv]
* (General Australian, New Zealand) enPR: twəlv, IPA: /twəlv/, [tw̥əɫv], enPR: twĕlv, IPA: /twelv/, [tw̥eɫv]
* (Southern US, African-American Vernacular, dated) enPR: twĕv, IPA: /twɛv/, [tw̥ɛv]
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛlv

### 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.
** 1972, Eleanor Webster Bulatkin, Structural Arithmetic Metaphor in the Oxford "Roland.", Ohio State University Press, →ISBN, page 10: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, [...]

#### Synonyms

* twelveteen (nonstandard)

#### Derived terms

* feel twelve feet tall
* grade twelve
* it's better to be judged by twelve than to be carried by six
* twelve bar blues
* twelve-bar blues
* twelve godfathers
* twelve good men and true
* twelve hundred
* twelve-inch
* twelve-note
* twelve-ounce curls
* twelve penny nail
* twelve-penny nail
* twelve-pounder
* twelvesome
* twelve-speed
* twelve-stepper
* twelve stepper
* twelve-step program
* twelve-tone
* twelve-tone technique

#### Related terms

* Ordinal: twelfth

#### Descendants

* → Japanese: トゥエルブ (tuerubu)

#### See also

* Last: eleven. Next: thirteen

### Noun

twelve (plural twelves)
* A group of twelve items.
    Fractions would be a little easier if we counted by twelves.
* A twelve-bore gun.
** 1982, Lawrence Durrell, Constance (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 2004, page 880:In this way Von Esslin ‘inherited’ two fine hammerless twelves which he used once or twice for duck on the Camargue.
* (law, colloquial) A jury (normally composed of twelve persons).
* (slang) The police; law enforcement, especially a narcotics officer.
* (military slang, by ellipsis of twelve o'clock) Front (front side of something, position in front of something).
    watch your twelve
** For quotations using this term, see Citations:twelve.

#### Related terms

* twelfth

### See also

* dozen

### References

* ↑ Hall, Joseph Sargent (1942 March 2) “3. The Consonants”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, →DOI, →ISBN, § 11, page 104.

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* twelfe, twelf, twælf, tuelf

### Etymology

From inflected froms of Old English twelf, from Proto-West Germanic *twalif, in turn from Proto-Germanic *twalif.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈtwɛlv(ə)/, /ˈtwɛlf(ə)/

### Numeral

twelve
* twelve

#### Descendants

* English: twelve
* Scots: twal, twol (obsolete twelf, twalf, tuelf)