twelve: [OE] Etymologically, twelve probably means ‘two over’ (just as eleven means ‘one over’). It appears to go back to a prehistoric Germanic compound formed from *twa- ‘two’ and *lif- (a relative of English leave), which also produced German zwölf, Dutch twaalf, Swedish tolf, and Danish tolv. If so, its underlying meaning is ‘two left (over ten)’, hence ‘ten plus two’. => leave, two
twelve (adj.)
Old English twelf "twelve," literally "two left" (over ten), from Proto-Germanic *twa-lif-, a compound of the root of two + *lif-, root of the verb leave (see eleven). Compare Old Saxon twelif, Old Norse tolf, Old Frisian twelef, Middle Dutch twalef, Dutch twaalf, Old High German zwelif, German zwölf, Gothic twalif. Outside Germanic, an analogous formation is Lithuanian dvylika, with second element -lika "left over."
雙語例句
1. "Why didn't you appoint Ron twelve months ago?"—"Good question."
“你為什麽12個月前不任命羅恩呢？”——“問得好。”
來自柯林斯例句
2. Twelve inmates have been killed during a riot at the prison.
12名犯人在一場監獄暴亂中被殺害。
來自柯林斯例句
3. Twelve hours is the minimum, sixty hours the maximum.
12小時為下限,60小時為上限.
來自柯林斯例句
4. Twelve extremely good-looking, smooth young men have been picked as finalists.
12名特別漂亮精明的青年男子被選為參加決賽的選手。
來自柯林斯例句
5. In most jurisdictions, twelve jurors and two alternates are chosen.