twenty

• Arabic numerals: 20 (see for numerical forms in other scripts)
• Roman numerals: XX

From Middle English twenty, twenti, from Old English twēntiġ (“twenty”, literally “two tens”), from Proto-Germanic *twaintigiwiz, *twai tigiwiz, an old compound of *twain- (“two”) +‎ *-tigaz (“group of ten”), equivalent to two +‎ -ty, or twain +‎ -ty. Cognate with Scots twenty, tuenty (“twenty”), West Frisian tweintich (“twenty”), Dutch twintig (“twenty”), German zwanzig (“twenty”), Danish tyve.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtwɛnti/

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (General American) enPR: twĕnʹtē, IPA^(key): /ˈtwɛnti/, (in fast speech) /ˈtwɛni/

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈtwenti/
• (Scotland) IPA^(key): /ˈtwɛnte/, /-tɪ/, /-ti/
• (parts of the US and Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈtwʌn(t)i/, /ˈtwʊn(t)i/
• (Philippines, nonstandard, colloquial) IPA^(key): /ˈtweɪnti/
• (Indic) IPA^(key): /ʈʋɛɳʈi/
  • (rounded, mainly South India) IPA^(key): /ʈ(ʋ)ɵɳʈi/
• Rhymes: -ɛnti, -ʌnti

twenty

2. The cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one.

   Synonym: onescore (rare)

• Hawaiian Creole: twenty
• Tok Pisin: twenti

twenty (plural twenties)

1. (in the plural) The numbers twenty (20) to twenty-nine (29).

   She looks like she's in her early twenties, perhaps 21 or 22 years old?

2. (colloquial) A banknote with a denomination of 20.

   The waiter’s face lit up when I gave him a twenty.

   • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:

     Of course I can do them just the same as the others—technically there's nothing whatever against it. Only no one ever heard of soft flims for anything like that—only for fives or tens or at the most a twenty.

   • 2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     The more a shop looks as though it trades in farthings and ha’pennies, the more tenners and twenties you can expect to hand over at the till.

3. (CB slang) 10-20 (location).

   What’s your twenty, good buddy?

   • 2012, Tom Dumont, Tony Kanal, Gwen Stefani, 0:54 from the start, in Settle Down‎^[2] (music video), No Doubt (actor), Vevo:

     What's your twenty?
     Where's your brain?
     Checking in to check you out
     Concerned about your whereabouts

4. (UK, historical, military) An old English division of infantry.

Derived from English twenty.

twenty

1. twenty (the cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one)
   • 2000, “Jesus Guys 1”, in Joseph Grimes, transl., Da Jesus Book: Hawaii Pidgin New Testament‎^[3], Wycliffe Bible Translators, →ISBN, page 312:

     Dat time had like hundred twenty peopo dat trus Jesus. Dey wen come togedda, an Peter wen stand up fo talk.

     And in those days Peter rose up amongst the brothers, (a crowd of people about one hundred and twenty in number) and declared…

• thewenti, thwenti, tuenti, tuentie, tweinti, twenti, twentig, twentie, twenntiȝ, twentti, twinti, twonti, twontie

From Old English twēntiġ, from Proto-Germanic *twai tigiwiz; equivalent to tweye +‎ -ty.

twenty

1. twenty (the cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one)
   • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 23–24:

     At nyght was come into that hostelrye
     Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye

     There came at nightfall to that hostelry
     Some nine and twenty in a company

• twentithe

• English: twenty
  • Hawaiian Creole: twenty
  • Tok Pisin: twenti
• Scots: twinty, twenty, tuenty
• Yola: dwanty

• “twentī, num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

twenty

1. alternative form of twinty