twice
/twaɪs/ adverb
- adverb Two times. “You should brush your teeth twice a day.”
- adverb (usually with "as", of a specified quality) Doubled in quantity, intensity, or degree.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From earlier twise, from Middle English twies, twiȝes, from Old English twīġes (“twice”), from twīwa, twīġa ("twice"; whence Middle English twie (“twice”)) + -es (adverbial genitive ending). Related to Saterland Frisian twäie (“twice”), Middle Low German twiges, twies (“twice”), Middle High German zwies (“twice”). Equivalent to twi- (“(in) two; both”) + -ce. Similarly constructed to the prefixes bis- and dis-, borrowed from Indo-European cognates.
Webster’s 1913
- adverb Two times; once and again.
- adverb Doubly; in twofold quantity or degree; as, twice the sum; he is twice as fortunate as his neighbor.
Etymology [OE. twies (where the s is the adverbial ending; see -wards), twie, AS. twiges, twiwa; akin to twi- (in comp.) two, G. zwie-, OHG. zwi-, Icel. tvi-, L. bi-, Gr. dvi-, and E. two. See Two.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “twice”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details