英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

twelve-month (n.)[twelve-month 词源字典]: "a year," Old English twelf-monð; see twelve + month.[twelve-month etymology, twelve-month origin, 英语词源]
twenties (n.): 1829 as the years of someone's life between 20 and 29; 1830 as the third decade of years in a given century. See twenty.
twentieth (adj.): 16c., from twenty + -th (1), replacing Middle English twentithe, from Old English twentigoða. The Twentieth Century Limited was an express train from New York to Chicago 1902-1967.
twenty (n.): Old English twentig "group of twenty," from twegen "two" (see two) + -tig "group of ten" (see -ty (1)). Cognate with Old Saxon twentig , Old Frisian twintich, Dutch twintig, Old High German zweinzug, German zwanzig. Gothic twai tigjus is even more transparent: literally "two tens."

The card game twenty-one (1790) is from French vingt-et-un (1781). Twenty-twenty hindsight is first recorded 1962, a figurative use of the Snellen fraction for normal visual acuity, expressed in feet. The guessing game of twenty questions is recorded from 1786.
twerk (v.): "to dance in a way that simulates the body's action in copulation," by 2005, alteration of twurk, which seems to have originated in the Atlanta, Georgia, strip club and hip-hop scene and first came to wide attention in the Ying Yang Twins' 2000 song "Whistle While You Twurk," described as "an ode to strippers" ["Country Fried Soul, Adventures in Dirty South Hip-Hop"]. Probably ultimately imitative of something. Related: Twerked; twerking. There is a verb twirk from 1599, "to pull, tug, twirl," what a man does with his mustache, but OED regards this as possibly a misprint of twirl.
twerp (n.): of unknown origin; OED and Barnhart give earliest date as 1925, but the "Dictionary of American Slang" gives a first reference of 1874 (but without citation and I can't find it), which, if correct, would rule out the usual theory that it is from the proper name of T.W. Earp, a student at Oxford c. 1911, who kindled wrath "in the hearts of the rugger-playing stalwarts at Oxford, when he was president of the Union, by being the last, most charming, and wittiest of the 'decadents.' " [Rawson]
"Mean to say you never heard of Sinzy? Why, he's one of the greatest characters in this town. He's a terrible twerp to look at -- got a face like bad news from home, but I guess he's the best jazz piano player in the world." [Julian Street, "Cross-Sections," 1923]
Twi (n.): chief language of Ghana in West Africa; also known as Akan, it is in the Niger-Congo language family.
twi-: word-forming element meaning "two, twice, double, in two ways," from Old English twi- "two, in two ways, twice, double," from Proto-Germanic *twi- (cognates: Old Frisian twi-, Old Norse tvi-, Dutch twee-, Old High German zwi-, German zwei-), from PIE *dwis (cognates: Sanskrit dvi-, Greek di-, Old Latin dvi-, Latin bi-, Lithuanian dvi-), from *dwo "two" (see two). Cognate with bi-. Older instances of it include Middle English twinter "two years old" (c. 1400, of cattle, sheep, etc.), reduced from Old English twi-wintre, and Old English twispræc "double or deceitful speech."
twi-night (adj.): 1939, in reference to evening double-header baseball games, from twilight + night.
twice (adv.): late Old English twies, from Old English twiga, twigea "two times," from Proto-Germanic *twiyes (cognates: Old Frisian twia, Old Saxon tuuio), from PIE *dwis-, adverbial form of *dwo- "two" (see two). Spelling with -ce reflects the voiceless pronunciation.
Life is as tedious as a twice-told tale
Vexing the dull ear of a drowsy man.
["King John," III.iv.]
Think twice, then speak was an "old Prouerbe" by 1623. At twice, though less common than at once, means "at two distinct times; by two distinct operations."
twiddle (v.): 1540s, "to trifle," of unknown origin, said to be probably imitative; of the fingers, "to twirl idly," first recorded 1670s. Figurative phrase twiddle one's thumbs "have nothing to do" is recorded from 1846; to twirl one's thumbs in the same sense is recorded from 1816. Related: Twiddled; twiddling.
twig (n.): Old English twig "twig, branch, shoot, small tree," from Proto-Germanic *twigga "a fork" (cognates: Middle Dutch twijch, Dutch twijg, Old High German zwig, German Zweig "branch, twig"), from PIE *dwi-ko-, from *dwo- "two" (see two). Compare Old English twisel "fork, point of division."
twiggy (adj.): "slender," 1560s, from twig + -y (2). The famous 1960s English model was born Lesley Hornby (1949). The older adjectival form was twiggen "made of twigs" (1540s).
twilight (n.): "light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon at morning and evening," late 14c. (twilighting), a compound of twi- + light (n.) Cognate with Middle Flemish twilicht, Dutch tweelicht (16c.), Middle High German twelicht, German zwielicht. Exact connotation of twi- in this word is unclear, but it appears to refer to "half" light, rather than the fact that twilight occurs twice a day. Compare also Sanskrit samdhya "twilight," literally "a holding together, junction," Middle High German zwischerliecht, literally "tweenlight." Originally and most commonly in English with reference to evening twilight but occasionally used of morning twilight (a sense first attested mid-15c.). Figurative extension recorded from c. 1600.

Twilight zone is from 1901 in a literal sense, a part of the sky lit by twilight; from 1909 in extended senses in references to topics or cases where authority or behavior is unclear. In the 1909 novel "In the Twilight Zone," the reference is to mulatto heritage. "She was in the twilight zone between the races where each might claim her ...." The U.S. TV series of that name is from 1959.
twill (n.): "cloth woven in parallel diagonal lines," early 14c., Scottish and northern English variant of Middle English twile, from Old English twili "woven with double thread, twilled," partial loan-translation of Latin bilix "with a double thread" (with Old English twi- substituted for cognate Latin bi-); the second element from Latin licium "thread," which is of uncertain origin.
twin (adj.): Old English twinn "consisting of two, twofold, double, two-by-two," from Proto-Germanic *twisnjaz "double" (cognates: Old Norse tvinnr "double, twin," Old Danish tvinling, Dutch tweeling, German zwillung), from PIE *dwisno- (cognates: Latin bini "two each," Lithuanian dvynu "twins"), from *dwi- "double," from root *dwo- "two" (see two). Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota have been the Twin Cities since 1883, but the phrase was used earlier of Rock Island and Davenport (1856).
twin (v.): "to combine two things closely, join, couple," late 14c., from twin (adj.). Related: Twinned; twinning. In Middle English, the verb earlier and typically meant "to part, part with, separate from, estrange," etc. (c. 1200), on the notion of making two what was one.
twin (n.): c. 1300, from Old English getwinn "double;" getwinnas "twins, two born at one birth," from twinn (see twin (adj.)).
twine (n.): "strong thread made from twisted strands," Old English twin "double thread," from Proto-Germanic *twiznaz "double thread, twisted thread" (cognates: Dutch twijn, Low German twern, German zwirn "twine, thread"), from the same root as twin (adj.).
twine (v.): "to twist strands together to form twine," c. 1300, from twine (n.) and probably also from Old Norse tvinna "to double." Sense of "to twist around something" (as twine does) is recorded from late 14c. Related: Twined; twining.