NYT Dictionary

TWIN

/twɪn/
NounVerbAdjectiveTWINGrade 6

Accepted in official NYT Spelling Bee puzzle years: 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025

Meaning

Either of two people (or, less commonly, animals) who shared the same uterus at the same time; one who was born at the same birth as a sibling.

Etymology

Origin: Old English

PIE word *dwóh₁ From Middle English twinne, twynne, from Old English ġetwin, ġetwinn (“twin, multiple”, noun) and twinn (“twin, two-fold, double, two by two”, adjective), from Proto-Germanic *twinaz (“double/two each, twin”), Proto-Germanic *twinjaz, *twīhnaz (“two each”), from Proto-Indo-European *dwino- (“twin”), from *dwóh₁ (“two”). Cognate with Scots twyn (“twin”), Dutch tweeling (“twin”), German Zwilling (“twin”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish tvilling (“twin”), Faroese tvinnur (“a double set”), Icelandic tvenna (“duo, pair”), Lithuanian dvynys (“twin”), Russian двойня (dvojnja, “twin”).

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms

twindletwinlingdoublettwofoldgeminicounterpartsimilitudeduplicateparallelmatch

NYT Puzzle Appearances

Accepted in 4 recorded puzzles:

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