Where does “二十歳” come from?

二十歳 (Japanese) comes from Japanese 二十, from Japanese 二, from Middle Chinese 二 — two.

二十歳 (Japanese): twenty years old

Definitions

  1. twenty years old

Ancestry of “二十歳”, step by step

二十歳 traces back through 3 separate lines of ancestry.

via Japanese 二十

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanese二十twenty; 20
2Japanesetwo, 2; second; two
3Middle Chinesetwo

via Japanese

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Japanesea year of age; age; -year-old
2Middle Chinese

via Old Japanese はたち

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1Old Japaneseはたちtwenty items
Every word from Middle Chinese Every word from Japanese Every word from Japanese 二十