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''twain'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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''twain'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260130210911-00-⌔

twain - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Adjective

twain (not comparable)

  • (rare) twofold

Noun

twain (plural twains)

  • Pair, couple.
    • ✤ The susceptible twain, on the search for adventure, dropped in.1
    • ✤ The twain immediately proffered their companionship.
      ‘I will come with you,’ said Mr Lessingham.
      ‘And I,’ echoed Sydney.      2

Verb

twain (third-person singular simple present twains, present participle twaining, simple past and past participle twained)

  • (transitive) To part in twain; divide; sunder.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /tweɪn/, [tʰw̥eɪn]
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -eɪn

Etymology 1

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From Middle English tweyne, tweien, twaine, from Old English twēġen m (“two”), from Proto-West Germanic ﹡twai-, from Proto-Germanic ﹡twai, from Proto-Indo-European ﹡dwóh₁. Cognate with Saterland Frisian twäin, Low German twene, German zween. More at two.

The word outlasted the breakdown of gender in Middle English and survived as a secondary form of two, then especially in the cases where the numeral follows a noun. Its continuation into modern times was aided by its use in KJV, the Marriage Service, in poetry (where it is commonly used as a rhyme word), and in oral use where it is necessary to be clear that two and not to or too is meant.

Etymology 2

From Middle English twaynen, from twayne (“two”, numeral) (see Etymology 1 above).

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1903 February 8, The Truth, Sydney, page 3, column 3: ↩

  2. 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

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