• n. 十二；十二個(gè)
• num. 十二；十二個(gè)
• adj. 十二的；十二個(gè)的

來(lái)自古英語(yǔ) twelf,十二，字面意思即剩下兩個(gè)，來(lái)自 Proto-Germanic*twa-lif,十二，來(lái)自 PIE*dwo,二，詞源同 two,PIE*leip,停留，留下，詞源同 leave.比較 eleven.

twelve

twelve: [OE] Etymologically, twelve probably means ‘two over’ (just as eleven means ‘one over’). It appears to go back to a prehistoric Germanic compound formed from *twa- ‘two’ and *lif- (a relative of English leave), which also produced German zw?lf, Dutch twaalf, Swedish tolf, and Danish tolv. If so, its underlying meaning is ‘two left (over ten)’, hence ‘ten plus two’.
=> leave, two

twelve (adj.)

Old English twelf "twelve," literally "two left" (over ten), from Proto-Germanic *twa-lif-, a compound of the root of two + *lif-, root of the verb leave (see eleven). Compare Old Saxon twelif, Old Norse tolf, Old Frisian twelef, Middle Dutch twalef, Dutch twaalf, Old High German zwelif, German zw?lf, Gothic twalif. Outside Germanic, an analogous formation is Lithuanian dvylika, with second element -lika "left over."

1. "Why didn't you appoint Ron twelve months ago?"—"Good question."

“你為什么12個(gè)月前不任命羅恩呢？”——“問(wèn)得好。”

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

2. Twelve inmates have been killed during a riot at the prison.

12名犯人在一場(chǎng)監(jiān)獄暴亂中被殺害。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

3. Twelve hours is the minimum, sixty hours the maximum.

12小時(shí)為下限,60小時(shí)為上限.

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

4. Twelve extremely good-looking, smooth young men have been picked as finalists.

12名特別漂亮精明的青年男子被選為參加決賽的選手。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句

5. In most jurisdictions, twelve jurors and two alternates are chosen.

大多數(shù)轄區(qū)都會(huì)選出12名陪審員和2名候補(bǔ)陪審員。

來(lái)自柯林斯例句