Twelve in Different Languages
Discover 'Twelve' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The number twelve has long held significance in various cultures and societies around the world. From the twelve apostles in Christianity to the twelve signs of the zodiac in astrology, this number has been associated with completeness and wholeness. In many traditional counting systems, twelve is a highly composite number, making it a useful and practical number to use in measurement and division. For example, there are twelve inches in a foot, and twelve months in a year.
Given its importance, you might be interested in learning how to say 'twelve' in different languages. In Spanish, 'twelve' is 'doce'. In French, it's 'douze'. In German, it's 'zwölf'. In Russian, it's 'двенадцать' (dvenadtsat'). In Chinese, it's '十二' (shí'èr).
Learning how to say 'twelve' in different languages can be a fun and interesting way to explore new cultures and broaden your linguistic horizons. Keep reading to discover more translations of this important number!
Twelve
Twelve in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | twaalf | ||
| The word "twaalf" in Afrikaans is derived from the Old Dutch word "tweelf", which itself comes from the Proto-Germanic word "*twa-lif" meaning "two-leftover". | |||
| Amharic | አስራ ሁለት | ||
| The word "አስራ ሁለት" can also be used to describe a group of people or things that are twelve in number. | |||
| Hausa | goma sha biyu | ||
| Hausa "goma sha biyu" means "twelve" and can also refer to a traditional Hausa hairstyle and a type of bean. | |||
| Igbo | iri na abụọ | ||
| In addition to meaning "twelve", "iri na abụọ" in Igbo is also an expression used to indicate the late afternoon or early evening time period. | |||
| Malagasy | roa ambin'ny folo | ||
| "Roa ambin'ny folo", in Malagasy, is the addition of ten and two instead of a direct translation of "twelve". The word "roa" means ten while "folo" means two. | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | khumi ndi awiri | ||
| The number "twelve" in Nyanja (Chichewa) is also a traditional measurement used to count certain things, such as bundles of small fish or firewood. | |||
| Shona | gumi nembiri | ||
| The word "gumi nembiri" can also mean "a group of twelve" or "a dozen" in Shona. | |||
| Somali | laba iyo toban | ||
| The Somali word "laba iyo toban" (twelve) literally translates to "two and ten". | |||
| Sesotho | leshome le metso e mmedi | ||
| The literal translation of “leshome le metso e mmedi” is “hands that join and close”. | |||
| Swahili | kumi na mbili | ||
| The Swahili word 'kumi na mbili,' meaning 'twelve,' translates literally to 'ten with two'. | |||
| Xhosa | shumi elinambini | ||
| 'Shumi elinambini', also called the 'thumb', refers to the counting system involving counting on both hands before using one hand as reference, which gives rise to twelve fingers in total. | |||
| Yoruba | mejila | ||
| Mejila can also mean "twelve-year-old", such as in the praise name "Mejila Alo", meaning "the twelve-year-old is a warrior". | |||
| Zulu | ishumi nambili | ||
| The word "ishumi nambili" in Zulu is derived from "ishumi" (ten) and "nambi" (two), and also means "a dozen". | |||
| Bambara | tannifila | ||
| Ewe | wuieve | ||
| Kinyarwanda | cumi na kabiri | ||
| Lingala | zomi na mibale | ||
| Luganda | kumi na bbiri | ||
| Sepedi | lesomepedi | ||
| Twi (Akan) | dummienu | ||
Twelve in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | اثني عشر | ||
| In addition to its numerical meaning, "اثني عشر" (ithnā ʿashar) also refers to the small intestine in Arabic due to its twelve segments. | |||
| Hebrew | שתיים עשרה | ||
| The Hebrew word "שתיים עשרה" can also mean "twenty-second" in ordinal numbers. | |||
| Pashto | دولس | ||
| The word "دولس" can also mean "collection" or "group" in Pashto. | |||
| Arabic | اثني عشر | ||
| In addition to its numerical meaning, "اثني عشر" (ithnā ʿashar) also refers to the small intestine in Arabic due to its twelve segments. | |||
Twelve in Western European Languages
| Albanian | dymbëdhjetë | ||
| The Albanian word "dymbëdhjetë" (twelve) is derived from the Proto-Albanian word "*dŭmbidĭeti", meaning "two tens" | |||
| Basque | hamabi | ||
| The word 'hamabi' derives from 'hamar' ('ten') and the Basque article '-bi' ('two'). | |||
| Catalan | dotze | ||
| The Catalan word "dotze" also means "dozen" and comes from the Latin "duodecim", meaning "twelve". | |||
| Croatian | dvanaest | ||
| The word 'dvanaest' originates from the Proto-Slavic word 'dъva na desęte', meaning 'two on ten'. | |||
| Danish | tolv | ||
| The word "tolv" is derived from Proto-Germanic *twalib, which also meant "two-left" or "two remaining". | |||
| Dutch | twaalf | ||
| The word "twaalf" is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "twahlf" meaning "two-tens". | |||
| English | twelve | ||
| "Twelve" comes from the Old English "twelif," from the Proto-Germanic "*twalib" and the Proto-Indo-European root "*dwe-dek-m," meaning "two" and "ten." | |||
| French | douze | ||
| In Old French, “douze” was written as “douse”, which meant both “twelve” and “sweet”. | |||
| Frisian | tolve | ||
| Tolve can also mean "eleven" in certain dialects of Frisian. | |||
| Galician | doce | ||
| The word "doce" in Galician, besides meaning "twelve", also refers to the day of the month, and to a type of popular music and dance of Galician origin. | |||
| German | zwölf | ||
| "Zwölf" is derived from the Old High German word "zwelif", which means "two leftover", referring to the two leftover fingers after counting to ten on both hands. | |||
| Icelandic | tólf | ||
| Tolf, meaning "twelve" in Icelandic, also refers to the twelfth day of Yule and the midwinter solstice. | |||
| Irish | a dó dhéag | ||
| Italian | dodici | ||
| The Italian word "dodici" is derived from the Latin word "duodecim", which also means "twelve". In Old Italian, the word was "dodece", which has now evolved into "dodici". | |||
| Luxembourgish | zwielef | ||
| The word "zwielef" is derived from the Old High German "zwelf" and is related to the English word "twelve". | |||
| Maltese | tnax | ||
| The Maltese word "tnax" derives from the Arabic word "ithna 'ashar" and shares its root with the Hebrew word "shnayim 'asar". | |||
| Norwegian | tolv | ||
| Tolv, meaning twelve in Norwegian, might have roots in a term denoting "two" and another for "left", i.e. two left until the hand is full, and is related to the German "zwölf" and Dutch "twaalf". | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | doze | ||
| The alternate meanings of “doze” are sleep, a light nap, and a lazy or idle person. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | dhà-dheug | ||
| Spanish | doce | ||
| The word "doce" (twelve) in Spanish may derive from the Latin "duodecim" or from the Proto-Indo-European "-dek" (to make ten) meaning "to add 2"} | |||
| Swedish | tolv | ||
| Tolv, meaning twelve in Swedish, comes from the Old Norse word "tolf", meaning multiple of four. | |||
| Welsh | deuddeg | ||
| The number 12 in Welsh is composed of "deu" (two) and "deg" (ten). | |||
Twelve in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | дванаццаць | ||
| Belarusian "дванаццаць" likely originates from Proto-Slavic *dvьnadestь referring to ten fingers and two feet. | |||
| Bosnian | dvanaest | ||
| "Dvanaest" originates from Proto-Slavic root *dvanadesetъ, deriving from the root *dъvа "two" and the suffix *-na-dъsetъ "ten". | |||
| Bulgarian | дванадесет | ||
| The word "дванадесет" (twelve) in Bulgarian is composed of the words "два" (two) and "надесет" (ten), meaning literally "two and ten". | |||
| Czech | dvanáct | ||
| Dvanáct derives from Proto-Slavic *dūvanadeset, composed of *dъva "two" and *nadeset "ten". | |||
| Estonian | kaksteist | ||
| "Kaksteist" is derived from the Proto-Finnic word *kaksteihsa, meaning "two tens." | |||
| Finnish | kaksitoista | ||
| "Kaksi" means "two" and "toista" means "second", so "kaksitoista" literally means "two second". | |||
| Hungarian | tizenkét | ||
| In a counting rhyme, the word "tizenkettő" is followed by "egy tucat", which literally means "a dozen". | |||
| Latvian | divpadsmit | ||
| The word "divpadsmit" is derived from the Proto-Baltic word *dwei-desmit meaning "two tens". | |||
| Lithuanian | dvylika | ||
| "Dvylika" shares the root word with "dvi", which means "two", indicating it was an assembly of two sixes. | |||
| Macedonian | дванаесет | ||
| The root of this word is shared with "дванаест" (twelve) in other Slavic languages, including Russian, Polish, and Czech. | |||
| Polish | dwanaście | ||
| "Dwanaście" likely derives from "dwa na ście" ("two on a hundred"): after counting to a hundred in the old Slavic system, people would start over with the same counting words on a new "hundred". This is why the numbers "eleven" through "nineteen" have names meaning "one on a hundred," "two on a hundred," and so on. | |||
| Romanian | doisprezece | ||
| In Romanian, "doisprezece" derives from Slavic "dva" (two) and "nadeset" (ten), representing the original base-12 counting system. | |||
| Russian | двенадцать | ||
| "Двенадцать" derives from the Proto-Slavic word *dъva na desęte, meaning "two on ten". | |||
| Serbian | дванаест | ||
| "Дванаест" also means "the 12th one" or "12". In Slavic mythology, there are 12 (дванаест) days of winter solstice. Therefore, it is often a synonym for the word "December". | |||
| Slovak | dvanásť | ||
| "Dvanásť" shares etymological roots with the Sanskrit "dvādaśa" and the Latin "duodecim" | |||
| Slovenian | dvanajst | ||
| The word 'dvanajst' derives from Proto-Slavic and can also mean 'dozen'. | |||
| Ukrainian | дванадцять | ||
| The Ukrainian word "дванадцять" is cognate with other Slavic languages such as Russian, Polish, and Czech, and is derived from the Proto-Slavic form *dъva na desęte, meaning "two on ten". | |||
Twelve in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | বারো | ||
| The word "বারো" (twelve) is also used to refer to a "dozon" in Bengali. | |||
| Gujarati | બાર | ||
| "બાર" in Gujarati can also refer to a measure of weight equivalent to about 1.2 kilograms. | |||
| Hindi | बारह | ||
| बारह ('twelve') is cognate with 'bāra' meaning 'burden' in Prakrit and 'bhāra' meaning 'weight' in Sanskrit. | |||
| Kannada | ಹನ್ನೆರಡು | ||
| The word "ಹನ್ನೆರಡು" has its origins in the Proto-Dravidian word "*panre" meaning "ten" and "*ir" meaning "two". | |||
| Malayalam | പന്ത്രണ്ട് | ||
| Marathi | बारा | ||
| The word "बारा" can also mean "a large group of people" or "a multitude" in Marathi, reflecting its Sanskrit origin "वारा" meaning "crowd". | |||
| Nepali | बाह्र | ||
| The Nepali word "बाह्र" (twelve) is related to the Sanskrit word "द्वादश" (dvādaśa), which also means twelve and is derived from the root "द्वि" (dvi) meaning "two" and "दश" (daśa) meaning "ten". | |||
| Punjabi | ਬਾਰਾਂ | ||
| The Punjabi word for "twelve" can also be used informally for any large group. | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | දොළොස් | ||
| Tamil | பன்னிரண்டு | ||
| Telugu | పన్నెండు | ||
| "పన్నెండు" is a Sanskrit compound word derived from "पंच" (pancha - five) and "दश" (dasha - ten), together meaning "five over ten". | |||
| Urdu | بارہ | ||
| The word "بارہ" also means "a unit of twelve" and "a group of twelve" in Urdu. | |||
Twelve in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 十二 | ||
| 十二 originally meant 'twelve animals' in the Chinese zodiac, but was later extended to mean 'twelve months' or 'twelve years' | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 十二 | ||
| 十二 (Shí'èr) is a compound word, composed of 十 (Shí) | |||
| Japanese | 12 | ||
| 十二 (jūni) can also mean "perfect" or "complete. | |||
| Korean | 열 두번째 | ||
| 열 두번째 ('twelve') can also mean 'repeatedly' or 'many times'. | |||
| Mongolian | арван хоёр | ||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | တကျိပ်နှစ်ပါး | ||
Twelve in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | duabelas | ||
| Etymology of "duabelas" in Indonesian: "dua" (two) + "belas" (ten) + "-as" (suffix forming numeral multipliers) | |||
| Javanese | rolas | ||
| In addition to its primary meaning as "twelve", the Javanese word "rolas" can also refer to a group of twelve people or objects. | |||
| Khmer | ដប់ពីរ | ||
| The Khmer word "ដប់ពីរ" can also mean "ten plus two" or "a baker's dozen." | |||
| Lao | ສິບສອງ | ||
| Malay | dua belas | ||
| The Malay word "dua belas" is a compound word formed by "dua" (two) and "belas" (ten), where "belas" itself is derived from the Sanskrit word "dvadasa". | |||
| Thai | สิบสอง | ||
| The word "สิบสอง" (twelve) derives from the Sanskrit word "dvādaśa", and is cognate with the English word "dozen". | |||
| Vietnamese | mười hai | ||
| "Mười hai" literally means "ten and two" in Vietnamese. | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | labindalawa | ||
Twelve in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | on iki | ||
| "On iki" derives from the Old Turkic word "on eki" meaning "the second ten". | |||
| Kazakh | он екі | ||
| The word "он екі" in Kazakh has its roots in the Old Turkic "on äki" and can also mean "the whole thing" or "the full number". | |||
| Kyrgyz | он эки | ||
| "Он эки" means "two twenties" in Kyrgyz, as the decimal system was first introduced in Central Asia in the 17th century. | |||
| Tajik | дувоздаҳ | ||
| The word "дувоздаҳ" in Tajik can also mean "a dozen". | |||
| Turkmen | on iki | ||
| Uzbek | o'n ikki | ||
| The word "o'n ikki" in Uzbek is composed of the words "o'n" (ten) and "ikki" (two), and can also mean "the two of ten" or "the eleventh". | |||
| Uyghur | ئون ئىككى | ||
Twelve in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | umikumālua | ||
| In Hawaiian mythology, the term 'umikumālua' also refers to the twelve nights of the new moon. | |||
| Maori | tekau ma rua | ||
| Samoan | sefulu ma le lua | ||
| The Samoan word "sefulu ma le lua" originated from a reduplicated form of the word "lua" (two). | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | labindalawa | ||
| The Tagalog word "labindalawa" is derived from the Malay word "duabelas", which means "two over ten". | |||
Twelve in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | tunka paya | ||
| Guarani | pakõi | ||
Twelve in International Languages
| Esperanto | dek du | ||
| The Esperanto word "dek du" is also a homophone of the phrase "deka dudeko", meaning "two and a half decades". | |||
| Latin | duodecim | ||
| "Duodecim" originates from the Proto-Italic word "*d(w)odekm" (or similar), meaning "two ten". | |||
Twelve in Others Languages
| Greek | δώδεκα | ||
| The word "δώδεκα" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "dwei-dekṃ" meaning "two tens". | |||
| Hmong | kaum ob | ||
| "Ob" is derived from "oib," referring to an old counting system where numbers 11 and 12 were counted as 10 plus 1 and 10 plus 2, respectively. | |||
| Kurdish | duwanzdeh | ||
| The Kurdish word "duwanzdeh" is cognate with the Persian "dovāzdah" and ultimately derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *dwo-dekṃ, meaning "two tens". | |||
| Turkish | on iki | ||
| "On iki" (twelve) means ten plus two.} | |||
| Xhosa | shumi elinambini | ||
| 'Shumi elinambini', also called the 'thumb', refers to the counting system involving counting on both hands before using one hand as reference, which gives rise to twelve fingers in total. | |||
| Yiddish | צוועלף | ||
| The Yiddish word "צוועלף" (tzwelf) derives from the Middle High German "zwelef". | |||
| Zulu | ishumi nambili | ||
| The word "ishumi nambili" in Zulu is derived from "ishumi" (ten) and "nambi" (two), and also means "a dozen". | |||
| Assamese | বাৰ | ||
| Aymara | tunka paya | ||
| Bhojpuri | बारह | ||
| Dhivehi | ބާރަ | ||
| Dogri | बारां | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | labindalawa | ||
| Guarani | pakõi | ||
| Ilocano | dose | ||
| Krio | twɛlv | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | دوازدە | ||
| Maithili | बारह | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯇꯔꯥꯅꯤꯊꯣꯏ | ||
| Mizo | sawmpahnih | ||
| Oromo | kudha lama | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | ବାର | ||
| Quechua | chunka iskayniyuq | ||
| Sanskrit | द्विदशकं | ||
| Tatar | унике | ||
| Tigrinya | ዓሰርተ ክልተ | ||
| Tsonga | khumembirhi | ||