twin

Meanings

Noun

• Either of two people (or, less commonly, animals) who shared the same uterus at the same time; one who was born at the same birth as a sibling.
• Either of two similar or closely related objects, entities etc.
• A room in a hotel, guesthouse, etc. with two beds; a twin room.
• A twin size mattress or a bed designed for such a mattress.
• A two-engine aircraft.
• A twin crystal.

Verb

• To separate, divide.
• To split, part; to go away, depart.
• To join, unite; to form links between (now especially of two places in different countries); to pair with.
• To give birth to twins.
• To be, or be like, a twin to (someone else); to match in some way.
• To be, or be like, a pair of twins (for example, to dress identically); to be paired or suited.

Adjective

• Double; dual; occurring as a matching pair.
• Forming a pair of twins.

Related

Similar words

• twindle, twinling, doublet (in the sense of twins and triplets)

Origin

• From Middle English twinne, twynne, from Old English ġetwin, ġetwinn and twinn, from Proto-Germanic *twinjaz, *twinaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dwino- ("twin"), from *dwóh₁. Cognate with Scots twyn ("twin"), Dutch tweeling ("twin"), German Zwilling ("twin"), Swedish tvilling ("twin"), Faroese tvinnur ("a double set"), Icelandic tvenna ("duo, pair"), Lithuanian dvynys ("twin"), Russian двойня ("twin").
• From Middle English *twin, *twyn, from Old English twin, twinn, from Proto-Germanic *twīhnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Cognate with Icelandic tvennur, Gothic 𐍄𐍅𐌴𐌹𐌷𐌽𐌰𐌹.