Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “twelfth” come from?

Twelfth comes from Old English twelfta, from Proto-Germanic twaliftô, a compound of twa (two) and lif (remaining), literally meaning "two left over" after counting to ten.

twelfth (English): The ordinal form of the number twelve, describing...

Definitions

  1. The ordinal form of the number twelve, describing...

Ancestry of “twelfth”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Middle Englishtwelfthe—
2Old Englishtwelftatwelfth
3Proto-Germanictwaliftôtwelfth

Words derived from “twelfth”

  • twelfthly
  • Twelfthtide
Every word from Proto-Germanic twaliftô →