twin

Pronunciation

• IPA: /twɪn/^[1]

Etymology

It is Middle English twin, inherited from Old English twinn (“twofold, double”), with the noun from Old English getwinn, getwinnas “twins”,^[2][3][4] from Proto-Germanic *twisnaz,^[4][2] which also gave Old Norse tvinnr, tvennr “double”, Old High German zwiniling “twin” and Dutch tweeling,^[3][2][5] from PIE *dwisno-, from *dwi- “double”, from the root Proto-Indo-European *dwo- (“two”);^[2][4] Latin bini “two each” is a cognate.^[2] See two and twi-.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, “consisting of two, twofold”: about 1000 in the OED and Barnhart.^[7][3] One of two children born at one birth is from about 1300 in Middle English, before 1200 as itwinn,^[2][3] and as Old English getwinnas.^[2]

Semantic evolution

By the late 14th century twin was used of animals and of the constellation Gemini, the Twins.^[2] The adjective “born at the same birth” is first in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors (1590),^[3][7] and “forming a pair, closely associated” from 1591.^[7][3] A pair linked by resemblance is by the 1580s.^[2] Minneapolis and Saint Paul have been the Twin Cities since 1883.^[2] The Middle English verb mostly meant the opposite, to part or separate, from about 1225, on the notion of making two out of one,^[2][7] a sense that survives in Scots.^[8] To give birth to twins is from about 1395,^[3] and to join closely or couple from the late 14th century.^[2] The pairing of towns in different countries is a 20th-century British use.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – twofold, double.^[7][3]
• before 1200 – a twin child, as itwinn.^[3]
• c. 1225 – the verb, to part, separate.^[7]
• late 14th century – to join, couple.^[2]
• 1590 – born at the same birth, in Shakespeare.^[3][7]
• 1591 – forming a pair.^[7][3]
• 1883 – the Twin Cities.^[2]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. One of two children or animals born at the same birth.
2. One of two people or things that are alike; a counterpart.
3. A crystal made of two parts that are mirror images of each other.

Adjective

1. Being one of twins: a twin brother.
2. Being one of a pair of alike things; made of two like parts: twin engines.

Verb

1. To pair or couple; in Britain, to link a town with one abroad.
2. To give birth to twins.

Word family

• twinship
• twin-engine
• twin-size
• twin bed
• Twin Peaks
• twin killing
• twin room

Related words

• two
• twi-
• twain
• twine
• between
• Gemini

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press