English
twenty
Twenty comes from Old English twēntiġ, from Proto-Germanic *twaintigiwiz, a compound of *twai ‘two’ and *teguz ‘group of ten’.
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*twaintigiwiz1reconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150twēntiġ1literally ‘two tens’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500twenty1
- Englishearliest quotation 1934twenty1
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English twenty
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1934, Ernest Bramah: “Of course I can do them just the same…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*twaintigiwizWiktionary, English twentyreconstructed
- Old Englishc. 450–1150twēntiġWiktionary, English twentyliterally ‘two tens’
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500twentyWiktionary, English twenty
- Englishearliest quotation 1934twentyWiktionary, English twenty. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1934, Ernest Bramah: “Of course I can do them just the same…”
A compound of *twai ‘two’ + *teguz ‘group of ten’
Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ ‘two’
Proto-Germanic *twai ‘two’
Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥-t(-s) ~ *dḱm̥-t-és ‘group of ten, decad’
Proto-Germanic *teguz ‘group of ten’
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Today it means
num The cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “twenty”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Germanic *twaintigiwiz / twenty