fraternal twin

noun

1. one of a pair of twins, not necessarily resembling each other, or of the same sex, that develop from two separately fertilized ova.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fraternal twin¹

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

The results were consistent across both identical and fraternal twin pairs.

From Science Daily

The girls are described as fraternal twins - with rare separate birthdays.

From BBC

Portugal found that the looking preferences of the genetically identical twins were more similar than those of the fraternal twins.

From Science Daily

In a nice pairing, identical twin Catholic clergy baptized a pair of fraternal twins during a recent Mass in Pennsylvania, The Times’ Sean Salai reports.

From Washington Times

“There were actually 37 of them, and they were all different and included a set of twins as wives. They were fraternal twins — because the wives were men and women — who dressed identically,” Montgomery says.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• identical twin
• Siamese twin