Twenty in Different Languages
Discover 'Twenty' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Updated on March 6, 2024
The number twenty is significant in many cultures and languages around the world. In English, we often associate twenty with a sense of abundance and completeness, as seen in phrases like 'twenty-something' and 'two dozen'. But did you know that in Chinese, the word for twenty is 'èrshí', which is a combination of the words for 'two' and 'ten'? Or that in Japanese, the word for twenty is 'hatachi', which also means 'the age of twenty'?
Understanding the translations of twenty in different languages can give us insight into the unique cultural and linguistic traditions of different societies. For example, in some African languages, the word for twenty is based on the concept of 'two hands', reflecting the importance of community and collaboration in these cultures. And in many indigenous languages of the Americas, the word for twenty is related to the concept of 'completeness', as it is often used to describe a full cycle or a complete set.
So whether you're a language enthusiast, a world traveler, or just someone who's curious about different cultures, learning the translations of twenty in different languages is a great place to start. Here are some examples to get you started:
Twenty
Twenty in Sub-Saharan African Languages
| Afrikaans | twintig | ||
| In Dutch, "twintig" means "twenty", while its cognate "twintig" in Afrikaans can also mean "quarrel". | |||
| Amharic | ሃያ | ||
| The Amharic word "ሃያ" also means "one hundred" when used in the context of counting money. | |||
| Hausa | ashirin | ||
| The word ashirin also means 'the period of 20 days following the birth of a child'. | |||
| Igbo | iri abụọ | ||
| "Iri abụọ" is an Igbo compound word meaning "second ten". It is used to count objects or people in groups of ten. | |||
| Malagasy | roa-polo amby | ||
| “Roa-polo amby” derives from "roa-polo" (ten-ten) and "amby" (half) | |||
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | makumi awiri | ||
| The word "makumi awiri" derives from the words "makumi" (tens) and "awiri" (two), reflecting its literal meaning of "two tens". | |||
| Shona | makumi maviri | ||
| Somali | labaatan | ||
| Alternate meanings of 'labaatan' include 'twentieth' and 'decade'. | |||
| Sesotho | mashome a mabeli | ||
| Swahili | ishirini | ||
| *Ishirini* likely derives from Proto-Bantu *kumi na ishiri* "ten and one more group". | |||
| Xhosa | amashumi amabini | ||
| The Xhosa word 'Amashumi amabini' is also used as an idiom to refer to a large number or an unspecified quantity. | |||
| Yoruba | ogún | ||
| The word "ogún" can also refer to a traditional Yoruba deity associated with war and ironworking. | |||
| Zulu | amashumi amabili | ||
| The word amashumi amabili means "twenty" in Zulu and is often used when referring to a group of people, animals, or things. | |||
| Bambara | mugan | ||
| Ewe | blaeve | ||
| Kinyarwanda | makumyabiri | ||
| Lingala | ntuku mibale | ||
| Luganda | amakumi abiri | ||
| Sepedi | masomepedi | ||
| Twi (Akan) | aduonu | ||
Twenty in North African & Middle Eastern Languages
| Arabic | عشرين | ||
| The word "عشرين" may also refer to the number of days of the lunar month or to the day of atonement in the Jewish calendar. | |||
| Hebrew | עשרים | ||
| The term "עשרים" ("twenty") is rooted in the Semitic word for "ten," as opposed to the Indo-European basis for most other Hebrew numbers. | |||
| Pashto | شل | ||
| The Pashto word "شل" can also mean "a large basket" or "a large pot". | |||
| Arabic | عشرين | ||
| The word "عشرين" may also refer to the number of days of the lunar month or to the day of atonement in the Jewish calendar. | |||
Twenty in Western European Languages
| Albanian | njëzet | ||
| The Albanian word | |||
| Basque | hogei | ||
| The word “hogei” is a Basque loanword, likely of Celtic origin, having a cognate in Breton “hugain.” | |||
| Catalan | vint | ||
| Vint comes from Latin 'viginti', which also relates to 'twin' as 'vinculum', and is the origin of 'vendetta'. | |||
| Croatian | dvadeset | ||
| The word "dvadeset" is likely derived from the Proto-Slavic word "dъva" (two) and the word "desęte" (ten). Alternatively, it might also be derived from the Proto-Indo-European word "dvi" (two) and the word "dekat" (ten). | |||
| Danish | tyve | ||
| The word "tyve" in Danish can also mean "thief" or "rogue". | |||
| Dutch | twintig | ||
| The word 'twintig' is derived from the Old Dutch word 'tweentig', meaning 'two tens'. | |||
| English | twenty | ||
| The word 'twenty' originates from the Old English word 'twentig,' which means 'two tens.' | |||
| French | vingt | ||
| The French word "vingt" originates from the Latin word "viginti", which also means "twenty." | |||
| Frisian | tweintich | ||
| In Frisian, "tweintich" is also used to refer to a specific type of bread baked in West Frisia and eaten on the 20th of December. | |||
| Galician | vinte | ||
| The word "vinte" (twenty in Galician) comes from the Latin word "viginti" with the same meaning. | |||
| German | zwanzig | ||
| The word "zwanzig" is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "*twai-huntigaz" meaning "two tens". | |||
| Icelandic | tuttugu | ||
| "Tuttugu" is also an archaic variant spelling of "tútta", meaning "horn" in Icelandic. | |||
| Irish | fiche | ||
| "Fiche" also means "tooth" or "knowledge" in Irish. | |||
| Italian | venti | ||
| "venti" is derived from the Latin "viginti", meaning "twenty". | |||
| Luxembourgish | zwanzeg | ||
| The word "zwanzeg" is derived from the Proto-Germanic word "*twai tiguns", meaning "two tens". | |||
| Maltese | għoxrin | ||
| The Maltese word "għoxrin" ultimately derives from the Arabic word "ʿiqrūn" meaning "ten and ten". | |||
| Norwegian | tjue | ||
| The word tjue derives from the Old Norse word `tvigu`, meaning `branch` or `fork`. | |||
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | vinte | ||
| The word "vinte" comes from the Latin "viginti" and can also mean a musical instrument similar to a guitar. | |||
| Scots Gaelic | fichead | ||
| The Scots Gaelic word "fichead" is cognate with Irish "fiche" and Latin "viginti," and it also means "a score" or "twenty people or things." | |||
| Spanish | veinte | ||
| The word "veinte" comes from the Latin word for "ten" and "two", and still means "ten and two" or "twelve" in some dialects. | |||
| Swedish | tjugo | ||
| "Tjugo" comes from "ti" (ten), and the suffix "-go" (to go). | |||
| Welsh | ugain | ||
| The word 'ugain' can also refer to an 'interval of twenty' in Welsh. | |||
Twenty in Eastern European Languages
| Belarusian | дваццаць | ||
| "Dvaццать" is a word of common Slavic origin and is also used in Russian and Ukrainian | |||
| Bosnian | dvadeset | ||
| The term "dvadeset" in Bosnian, like most other numbers from "11" to "19", contains the stem "-naest" meaning "ten, decade", thus indicating the number of tens and the number of units, for example "dvadeset" - "two tens"} | |||
| Bulgarian | двайсет | ||
| The word "двайсет" is derived from the Proto-Slavic word *dvadesęte, which itself is derived from the Proto-Indo-European word *dwóh₁-déḱm̥, meaning "two tens". | |||
| Czech | dvacet | ||
| The word "dvacet" in Czech, meaning "twenty", derives from the Proto-Slavic word "dъvati", meaning "two tens". | |||
| Estonian | kakskümmend | ||
| The Estonian word “kakskümmend” is formed by combining “kaks” (two) and “kümmend” (ten), suggesting that the Estonian people once used a base-20 numerical system. | |||
| Finnish | kaksikymmentä | ||
| The root 'kaksin-' in the word 'kaksikymmentä' ('twenty') is thought to derive from the Indo-European root '*kak-', meaning 'two'. | |||
| Hungarian | húsz | ||
| "Húsz" is a compound word of Proto-Turkic origin, from *on "ten" and *üč "three". | |||
| Latvian | divdesmit | ||
| "Divdesmit" originated from Proto-Baltic "*deśimtъ", meaning "ten" as in "two tens". | |||
| Lithuanian | dvidešimt | ||
| The word “dvidešimt” means “two times ten”, which is an alternative to the modern expression “dvylika ir aštuoni” (“twelve plus eight”). | |||
| Macedonian | дваесет | ||
| "Дваесет" (dvaeset) derives from the Proto-Slavic *dvъdesęte and is cognate with the Sanskrit *dviṃśát ( | |||
| Polish | dwadzieścia | ||
| In Old Polish, 'dwadzieścia' also meant 'two tens', and this is the only Slavic language in which the word for 'twenty' did not originally mean 'one score'. | |||
| Romanian | douăzeci | ||
| "Douăzeci" derives from the Proto-Indo-European root "*dḱm̥t" meaning "ten". | |||
| Russian | 20 | ||
| In Russian, '20' is sometimes referred to as 'score', which also means 20 in English | |||
| Serbian | двадесет | ||
| "Двадесет" comes from the Proto-Slavic word *dъvaɪdesęti, which is derived from the root *dъva (2)." | |||
| Slovak | dvadsať | ||
| Dvadsať is a compound of the words for 'two' (dva) and 'ten' (desať) | |||
| Slovenian | dvajset | ||
| The word "dvajset" in Slovenian is derived from the Proto-Slavic word "dъva" (two) and "desętъ" (ten). | |||
| Ukrainian | двадцять | ||
| The word 'двадцять' is derived from the Proto-Slavic word '*dvъ', meaning 'two', and the suffix '-дцять', meaning 'ten'. | |||
Twenty in South Asian Languages
| Bengali | বিশ | ||
| "বিশ" (bisha) is also the name of a plant, a type of poisonous creeper. | |||
| Gujarati | વીસ | ||
| The word 'વીસ' (vis) in Gujarati is derived from the Sanskrit word 'विंशति' (viṃśati), which also means 'twenty'. In some contexts, 'વીસ' can also refer to a group of twenty or a period of twenty years. | |||
| Hindi | बीस | ||
| The word 'बीस' is also used in Hindi to refer to a group of 20 things, like a pack of cigarettes or a set of playing cards. | |||
| Kannada | ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತು | ||
| "ಇಪ್ಪತ್ತು" is derived from the Dravidian root "ippat" meaning "to add" and the Sanskrit suffix "-attu" meaning "ten". | |||
| Malayalam | ഇരുപത് | ||
| The word 'ഇരുപത്' can also mean 'two parts' in Malayalam, referring to the ancient practice of counting in pairs. | |||
| Marathi | वीस | ||
| Derived from the Sanskrit word "viṃśati", which means "twenty". Also refers to the twentieth day of the lunar month in the Hindu calendar. | |||
| Nepali | बीस | ||
| The Nepali word "बीस" is derived from the Proto-Indo-European root "*dwi" meaning "two". | |||
| Punjabi | ਵੀਹ | ||
| The word "ਵੀਹ" is derived from the Prakrit word "विस" (vis), which also means "poison". This is because in ancient times, twenty was considered an unlucky number associated with death and misfortune. | |||
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | විසි | ||
| විසි (wisi) is also believed to mean 'to be scattered' or 'to be distributed' in some contexts. | |||
| Tamil | இருபது | ||
| In addition to its primary meaning of 'twenty', 'இருபது' also denotes 'both', 'pair' and 'double'. | |||
| Telugu | ఇరవై | ||
| The word "ఇరవై" comes from the Sanskrit word "dviradasha" meaning "twenty". It can also refer to a type of Indian musical instrument. | |||
| Urdu | بیس | ||
| The word 'بیس' can also refer to 'basis', 'foundation', or 'groundwork' in Urdu. | |||
Twenty in East Asian Languages
| Chinese (Simplified) | 二十 | ||
| "二十" originally meant the twentieth constellation and is composed of three suns and one moon. | |||
| Chinese (Traditional) | 二十 | ||
| 二十 is the result of concatenating the words '两' ('two') and '十' ('ten'), and it also refers to the character's glyph in traditional Chinese, which looks like the profile of an outstretched human body. | |||
| Japanese | 20 | ||
| The character for "20" in Japanese (二十) can also be read as "hatsuka" or "nijyuu" in on'yomi and "hatachi" in kun'yomi, and is used in words such as "hatsuka" (the 20th day of the month), "nijyuuichi" (21), and "ichijuuni" (12), respectively. | |||
| Korean | 이십 | ||
| 이십 (십) '십' (ten) + '이' (two) | |||
| Mongolian | хорин | ||
| The word "хорин" likely derives from the Mongolian root word "хор" meaning "pair". | |||
| Myanmar (Burmese) | နှစ်ဆယ် | ||
Twenty in South East Asian Languages
| Indonesian | dua puluh | ||
| "Dua puluh" is derived from the Malay word "duapulu" meaning "one score" and "puluh" meaning "ten." | |||
| Javanese | rong puluh | ||
| The word "rong puluh" (twenty) in Javanese comes from the Old Javanese "rong welas" (two times ten). | |||
| Khmer | ម្ភៃ | ||
| In Khmer, "ម្ភៃ" not only refers to the number "20", but also means "a large crowd" or "a multitude". | |||
| Lao | ຊາວ | ||
| The word "ຊາວ" in Lao is derived from the Sanskrit word "catvāriṃśat", meaning "forty". It is also used to refer to a group of twenty people. | |||
| Malay | dua puluh | ||
| The Malay word 'dua puluh' is a calque from Sanskrit 'dvi daśa', meaning 'two tens'. | |||
| Thai | ยี่สิบ | ||
| "ยี่สิบ" is a Thai word derived from the Mon-Khmer language, originally meaning "group of two" or "paired". | |||
| Vietnamese | hai mươi | ||
| "Hai mươi" also means "twenty days" in Vietnamese | |||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | dalawampu | ||
Twenty in Central Asian Languages
| Azerbaijani | iyirmi | ||
| The word "iyirmi" also means "sweet" in Azerbaijani. | |||
| Kazakh | жиырма | ||
| The Kazakh word "жиырма" not only means "twenty" but also refers to a type of traditional Kazakh feast. | |||
| Kyrgyz | жыйырма | ||
| The Kyrgyz word "жыйырма" is derived from the Old Turkic word "jigirmi", which also means "twenty". It is cognate with the Kazakh word "жиырма" and the Uzbek word "yigirma". | |||
| Tajik | бист | ||
| The word is also used in some dialects to mean "many," "much," or "a lot," though the more common variant "зиёд" is preferred | |||
| Turkmen | ýigrimi | ||
| Uzbek | yigirma | ||
| The word "yigirma" is derived from Proto-Turkic *yigirmi "twenty," and is related to words like "yirmi" in Turkish and "йырыма" in Kazakh. | |||
| Uyghur | يىگىرمە | ||
Twenty in Pacific Languages
| Hawaiian | iwakālua | ||
| The word "iwakālua" can also mean "a division of land containing eight or ten small house lots". | |||
| Maori | rua tekau | ||
| Rua tekau is also the Maori term for 'a group of twenty', or 'a score'. | |||
| Samoan | lua sefulu | ||
| "Lua" means "two" and "sefulu" means "ten". "Lua sefulu" therefore literally translates to "two ten". | |||
| Tagalog (Filipino) | dalawampu | ||
| 'Dalawampu' is also used to refer to a group of twenty people or things. | |||
Twenty in American Indigenous Languages
| Aymara | pä tunka | ||
| Guarani | mokõipa | ||
Twenty in International Languages
| Esperanto | dudek | ||
| The Esperanto word 'dudek' comes from the French word 'douze' (twelve) and is also used in the expression 'unu dudek procento' (one percent). | |||
| Latin | viginti | ||
| The Latin word "viginti" originates from the Proto-Indo-European root "*dwei-g<sup>w</sup>ʰnt-i" meaning "twice ten". | |||
Twenty in Others Languages
| Greek | είκοσι | ||
| The word 'είκοσι' derives from the Proto-Indo-European root *wek- or *dwei-, meaning 'two'. | |||
| Hmong | nees nkaum | ||
| The word "nees nkaum" is composed of two parts: "nees" meaning "ten" and "nkaum" meaning "two". When combined, they literally translate to "two tens". | |||
| Kurdish | bîst | ||
| In Kurdish, "bîst" is cognate with Persian "bist" and ultimately derives from Old Persian "visata". It also has the alternate meaning of "a lot" or "many". | |||
| Turkish | yirmi | ||
| In Turkic languages, 'yirmi' is also used as a generic way to refer to large numbers. | |||
| Xhosa | amashumi amabini | ||
| The Xhosa word 'Amashumi amabini' is also used as an idiom to refer to a large number or an unspecified quantity. | |||
| Yiddish | צוואַנציק | ||
| It could be derived the German word “zwanzig” (“twenty”) or the Low German “twintig.” | |||
| Zulu | amashumi amabili | ||
| The word amashumi amabili means "twenty" in Zulu and is often used when referring to a group of people, animals, or things. | |||
| Assamese | বিশ | ||
| Aymara | pä tunka | ||
| Bhojpuri | बीस | ||
| Dhivehi | ވިހި | ||
| Dogri | बीह् | ||
| Filipino (Tagalog) | dalawampu | ||
| Guarani | mokõipa | ||
| Ilocano | bente | ||
| Krio | twɛnti | ||
| Kurdish (Sorani) | بیست | ||
| Maithili | बीस | ||
| Meiteilon (Manipuri) | ꯀꯨꯟ | ||
| Mizo | sawmhnih | ||
| Oromo | diigdama | ||
| Odia (Oriya) | କୋଡ଼ିଏ | ||
| Quechua | iskay chunka | ||
| Sanskrit | विंशति | ||
| Tatar | егерме | ||
| Tigrinya | ዒስራ | ||
| Tsonga | makumembirhi | ||