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Twi
1[ chwee, chee, twee ]
noun
- a Kwa language spoken in Ghana that is mutually intelligible with Fanti.
twi-
2- a combining form meaning “two,” “twice”:
twibill.
Twi
/ twiː /
noun
- a language of S Ghana: one of the two chief dialects of Akan Formerly calledAshanti Compare Fanti
- TwiTwis a member of the Negroid people who speak this language
Word History and Origins
Example Sentences
So Twi-hards fear not, a brooding perfume commercial might still be headed your way.
A sensation that can only be called Twi-Hardish swept over me: This was an honor, damn it!
Once (on-es); twice (twi-es); thrice (thri-es) are numerals in the genitive case.
Why, with such a shed, you might very well be mistaken for Chin-ko-fi-ku-o, high-priest of the temple of Twi.
She was not afraid, for in the dark-en-ing twi-light they looked indeed like cattle.
Twi-form is the leopard; twi-natured was Richard of Anjou, dog and cat.
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Words That Use Twi-
What does twi- mean?
Twi- is a combining form used like a prefix meaning “two” or “twice.” It appears in some older, mostly obsolete and rare terms.
Twi- ultimately comes from the Old English twi-, closely related to two, twelve, twice, twin, and even twig. The Latin counterpart to twi- is bi- and the Greek is di-.
Twi- isn’t productive in English today, with two, twin, and twice variously combined with words to do the former work of twi-. Combining forms derived from other languages, such as bi- or di-, are widely used, especially in technical terms.
Examples of twi-
One example of a common word that features twi- is twilight, “the soft, diffused light from the sky when the sun is below the horizon, either from daybreak to sunrise or, more commonly, from sunset to nightfall.” The word is first recorded in Middle English.
The word twilight combines twi-, meaning “two,” and light. But why this kind of light or period of day has a literal sense of “two or twice light” is uncertain. Some suppose it’s because twilight happens two times a day; others suggest that the twi- in the word has the sense of “half” (as if cut “in two”), alluding to the softer quality of this light.
What are some words that use the combining form twi-?
- twiarched
- twibill
- twiborn
- twifoil
- twiheaded
- twinature
- twitop
What are some other forms that twi- may be commonly confused with?
Not every word that begins with the exact letters twi- is necessarily using the combining forming twi- to denote “two,” such as twiddle, twirl, or twitch. Fiddle around with their history and meaning at our entries for the words.
Break it down!
A twibill is an archaic word for a kind of battle-ax, bill here being an old word meaning “sword.” How many blades does such an ax have?
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