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."
实用例句
1. "Why didn't you appoint Ron twelve months ago?"—"Good question."
“你为什么12个月前不任命罗恩呢？”——“问得好。”
来自柯林斯例句
2. Twelve inmates have been killed during a riot at the prison.
12名犯人在一场监狱暴乱中被杀害。
来自柯林斯例句
3. Twelve hours is the minimum, sixty hours the maximum.
12小时为下限,60小时为上限.
来自柯林斯例句
4. Twelve extremely good-looking, smooth young men have been picked as finalists.
12名特别漂亮精明的青年男子被选为参加决赛的选手。
来自柯林斯例句
5. In most jurisdictions, twelve jurors and two alternates are chosen.
