Etymograph

English

twice

Twice comes from Middle English twies ‘twice (two times)’, and goes back to Proto-West Germanic *twiwō.

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*twiwō1reconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150tweowa2as twīwa‘twice’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150twīġes2
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500twies2‘twice’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1824twice2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Old English tweowa
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English twice
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1824, Lord Byron, Canto the Thirteenth: “I've done with my tirade. The world was gone;…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*twiwōWiktionary, Old English tweowareconstructed
  2. Old Englishc. 450–1150tweowaWiktionary, English twiceas twīwa‘twice’
  3. Old Englishc. 450–1150twīġesWiktionary, English twice
  4. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500twiesWiktionary, English twice‘twice’
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1824twiceWiktionary, English twice. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1824, Lord Byron, Canto the Thirteenth: “I've done with my tirade. The world was gone;…”

The story

Similarly constructed to the prefixes bis- and dis-, borrowed from Indo-European cognates.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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Today it means

adv Two times.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “twice”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Old English tweowa. 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-West Germanic *twiwō / twice