twenty

• Arabic numerals: 20 (see for numerical forms in other scripts)
• Roman numerals: XX

From Middle English twenty, twenti, from Old English twēntiġ (“twenty”, literally “two tens”), from Proto-Germanic *twaintigiwiz, *twai tigiwiz, an old compound of *twain- (“two”) +‎ *-tigaz (“group of ten”), equivalent to two + -ty, or twain + -ty. Cognate with Scots twenty, tuenty (“twenty”), West Frisian tweintich (“twenty”), Dutch twintig (“twenty”), German zwanzig (“twenty”), Danish tyve.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtwɛnti/, [ˈtw̥ɛ̃nti]
• (General American) enPR: twĕnʹtē, IPA^(key): /ˈtwɛnti/, [ˈtw̥ɛɾ̃i], /ˈtwɛni/, [ˈtw̥ɛ̃ɾ̃i]
• (parts of the US and Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈtwʌn(t)i/, /ˈtwʊn(t)i/

• Audio (UK)

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• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɛnti, -ʌnti

twenty

1. The cardinal number 20, occurring after nineteen and before twenty-one.

• Tok Pisin: twenti

twenty (plural twenties)

1. (colloquial) A banknote with a denomination of 20.

   The waiter’s face lit up when I gave him a twenty.

   • 2020 September 1, Tom Lamont, “The butcher's shop that lasted 300 years (give or take)”, in The Guardian‎:

     The more a shop looks as though it trades in farthings and ha’pennies, the more tenners and twenties you can expect to hand over at the till.

2. (CB slang) 10-20 (location).

   What’s your twenty, good buddy?

   • 2012, Tom Dumont; Tony Kanal; Gwen Stefani, Settle Down‎, Vevo, 0:54 from the start:

     What's your twenty?
     Where's your brain?
     Checking in to check you out
     Concerned about your whereabouts

3. (UK, historical, military) An old English division of infantry.

• thewenti, thwenti, tuenti, tuentie, tweinti, twenti, twentig, twentie, twenntiȝ, twentti, twinti, twonti, twontie

From Old English twēntiġ, from Proto-Germanic *twai tigiwiz; equivalent to twei +‎ -ty.

twenty

1. twenty
   • c. 1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, General Prologue, lines 23-24:

     At nyght was come into that hostelrye
     Wel nyne and twenty in a compaignye

     There came at nightfall to that hostelry
     Some nine and twenty in a company

• English: twenty
  • Tok Pisin: twenti
• Scots: twinty, twenty, tuenty
• Yola: dwanty

• “twentī, num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.