twin
Part of speech: noun
verb
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: aeronautics
aerospace
aviation
business
chemistry
crystallography
engineering
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
Etymology: 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”).
Inflected forms:
form: twins
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: twynne
pos: noun
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: twins
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: twinning
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: twinned
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: twinned
pos: verb
tags: past
form: twynne
pos: verb
tags: alternative
obsolete
form: twynne
pos: adj
tags: alternative
obsolete
Senses:
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
gloss: Either of two similar or closely related objects, entities etc.
pos: noun
gloss: A room in a hotel, guesthouse, etc. with two beds; a twin room.
pos: noun
gloss: A two-engine aircraft.
pos: noun
gloss: A twin crystal.
pos: noun
gloss: A twin size mattress; or a bed designed for such a mattress.
pos: noun
tags: US
gloss: A friendly term of address, typically for men.
pos: noun
tags: slang
gloss: To separate, divide.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To split, part; to go away, depart.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
gloss: To join, unite; to form links between (now especially of two places in different countries); to pair with.
pos: verb
tags: passive
usually
examples: Reading, the English town, is twinned with Clonmel in Ireland.
Coventry twinned with Dresden as an act of peace and reconciliation, both cities having been heavily bombed during the war.
Still we moved / Together, twinned, as horse's ear and eye.
Yet, Manet heightens its effect by performing the clever ocular trick of practically twinning her with her pictorial counterpart, Madame Lejosne.
gloss: To give birth to twins.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: “I’ve run to tell ye,” said the junior shepherd, supporting his exhausted youthful frame against the doorpost, “that you must come directly. Two more ewes have twinned — that’s what’s the matter, Shepherd Oak.”
Twinning today is abnormal in all higher primates, and possibly adaptive only in the one species with an obstetrical technology that permits a high rate of survival of twins.
gloss: To be, or be like, a twin to (someone else); to match in some way.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The invert child and her innocent child are together lost children, twinning each other despite their distinctions.
I was awake to the horror of our twinning each other in paralysis, and feared that we would soon talk only about the daily, intimate care serious paralysis demands […]
gloss: To be, or be like, a pair of twins (for example, to dress identically); to be paired or suited.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: “I see you got us twinning today.” Byrd kissed Lay quickly. “I wanted you to dress like me today,” he admitted.
“We're totally twinning today!” said Zoey. “You sure are,” said Chef Piper. “I whipped up a special dessert for tonight.”
Simon Porte Jacquemus Twins With His Grandmother at the 2026 Met Gala [title]
gloss: Double; dual; occurring as a matching pair.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: twin beds, twin socks
gloss: Forming a pair of twins.
pos: adj
tags: not-comparable
examples: the twin boys
Related words: twyndyllyng
twain
sister city
Derived words: Big Jim and the twins
Catholic twin
Catholic twins
conjoined twin
digital twin
evil twin
identical twin
Irish twin
mirror-image twin
mirror twin
monozygotic twin
physical twin
quasi-twin
quaternary twin
Siamese twin
stuck twin syndrome
time twin
twin block appliance
twin-born
twin braids
twin-cam
twincest
Twin Cities
twindrills
twin-engined
Twin Falls
twin flame
twinjet
Twin Lakes
twin-lens reflex
twin-masted
twin oligohydramnios-polyhydramnios sequence
twin paradox
twin prime pair
twin ship
twin-ship
twin speech
twin-stick
twin talk
twin tip
twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome
Twin Towers
twin-track
twin tub
twintuition
vanishing twin
vanishing twin syndrome
twin city
twin bed
twin-clutch gearbox
twin crystal
twin-engine
twinhulled
twin killing
twin peaks
Twin Peaks
twin prime
twin prime conjecture
twin quasar
twin room
twin screw
twin-size
twin town
twin XL
V-twin
Translations: