Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Twain |
TwainNoun1. Two items of the same kind. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "twain" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Computing | TWAIN |
Biographical Satire | TWAIN, Mark, an American who wore long white hair, made after-dinner speeches, received university degrees, and made people laugh. Source: Who was Who: 5000BC - 1914. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The word TWAIN is from Rudyard Kipling's "The Ballad of East and West" - "...and never the twain shall meet...", reflecting the difficulty, at the time, of connecting scanners and personal computers. It was up-cased to TWAIN to make it more distinctive. This led people to believe it was an acronym, and then to a contest to come up with an expansion. None were selected, but the entry "Technology Without An Interesting Name" continues to haunt the standard.
This article was originally based on material from FOLDOC, used with permission. Update as needed.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "TWAIN."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
TWAIN | English | Technology without any important name | Computing |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonyms: TwainSynonyms: brace (n), couple (n), couplet (n), distich (n), doubleton (n), duad (n), duet (n), duo (n), dyad (n), pair (n), span (n), twosome (n), yoke (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Depth | Adverb: beyond one's depth, out of one's depth; over head and ears; mark twine, mark twain. |
Disjunction | Sunder, divide, subdivide, sever, dissever, abscind; circumcise; cut; incide, incise; saw, snip, nib, nip, cleave, rive, rend, slit, split, splinter, chip, crack, snap, break, tear, burst; rend; rend asunder, rend in twain; wrench, rupture, shatter, shiver, cranch, crunch, craunch, chop; cut up, rip up; hack, hew, slash; whittle; haggle, hackle, discind, lacerate, scamble, mangle, gash, hash, slice. |
Adverb: separately; Adjective: one by one, severally, apart; adrift, asunder, in twain; in the abstract, abstractedly. | |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Twain |
| English words defined with "twain": Atwain, Atwo ♦ boring ♦ deadening, dull ♦ Hannibal, ho-hum, Huck Finn, Huckleberry Finn, huffy ♦ In twain, In two, irksome ♦ pseudonymous ♦ scruffy, seedy, slow, sore ♦ tedious, tiresome, Tom Sawyer, Tway ♦ Untwain ♦ wearisome. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "twain": Commendation Ninepence ♦ MARK ♦ SAWYER ♦ WEBSTER, WILSON. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "twain": Atwain ♦ Disdiaclast ♦ Tway. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Hmm, I think Mark Twain said that, didn't he? (Analyze This; writing credit: Kenneth Lonergan; Peter Tolan) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Never the Twain (1974) Mark Twain Tonight! (1967) The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944) Never the Twain Shall Meet (1931) On the Trail of Mark Twain (1999) | |
Song Titles | Any Man Of Mine (performing artist: Shania Twain) I'm Gonna Getcha Good! (performing artist: Shania Twain) Come On Over (performing artist: Shania Twain) From This Moment On (performing artist: Shania Twain) I'm Holdin' On To Love (To Save My Life) (performing artist: Shania Twain) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Otto Alber, left, NRCS civil engineer in the Mark Twain Water Quality Project Office, watches as landowner Mark Lehenbauer prepares to sign a conservation plan for his farm. Credit: Charlie Rahm. |  | Rickey Schwieter, NRCS nutrient and pest management specialist in the Mark Twain Water Quality Project Office, estimates the yield in a cornfield. Credit: Charlie Rahm. |
 | Underground lead mining near Viburnum, MO in the Mark Twain National Forest. Credit: jerry Sintz. |  | Above ground area of a lead mine near Viburnum, MO in the Mark Twain National Forest. Credit: Jerry Sintz. |
 | Lead mining operation near Viburnum, Missouri in the Mark Twain National Forest. Credit: Jerry Sintz. |  | Core drilling / Lead mining operation near Viburnum, Missouri in the Mark Twain National Forest. Credit: Jerry Sintz. |
 | Rehabilitation of mining areas / Lead mining operation near Viburnum, Missouri in the Mark Twain National Forest. Credit: Jerry Sintz. |  | Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet -- Kipling. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | "Mark Twain," America's best humorist / J. Keppler ; Mayer, Merkel & Ottman, lith. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Mark Twain house, Hartford, Conn. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Tangled Tale | Carroll, Lewis | For in the space of time wherein we clambered up one mile and bounded down the same on our return, we could have trudged the twain on the level. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Twain" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 94.20% of the time. "Twain" is used about 69 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 94.2% | 65 | 41,645 |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 2.9% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 1.45% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.45% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 69 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
1. Twain, CA |
Expressions using "twain": cleave in twain ♦ in twain ♦ Mark Twain ♦ twain cloud ♦ Twain Harte. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "twain"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Albanian | dysh (Deuce, duple), dy (two, twosome). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Arabic | زوجان (couple, pair), أثنان (duo, two). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bulgarian | чифт (brace, case, pair), двойка (couple, double, dyad, pair, twosome), двама, два (two). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dutch | TWAIN (Technology without any important name), Technology without any important name (Technology without any important name). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
French | couple (twosome). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
German | zwei (b, Deuce, two). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Greek | ζεύγοσ (brace, couple, doublet, pair, span, yoke), δυο (two). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hungarian | pár (couple, pair), kettõ (dyad, two). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Italian | due (couple, Deuce, two). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manx | jees (both, brace, couple, pair, two), ghaa (two). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pig Latin | aintway par (bond, couple, couplet, duet, duetto, even, fellow, oxbow, peer), duas (a couple of, two), dois (a couple of, deuce, two). (various references) пара (couple, doublet, dyad, match, pair, pendant, two, two bits, twosome). (various references) oznaka 'dva hvata', grupa od dvoje. (various references) dos (a couple of, couple, Deuce, two). (various references) tvenne (two). (various references) iki parça, iki kişi (the two, two people), iki (ambi-, amphi-, bi-, brace, couple, dual, duo-, dyad, two, two-). (various references) розділений навпіл, близнята (twin), подвійний (bifold, bigeminal, binary, double, dual, duplex, duplicate, twin, two ply, twofold), пара (couple, doublet, fume, match, pair, pendant, steam, two, twosome, vapor, vapour). (various references) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Language | Date | Source | Matthew Chapter 5, Verse 41 |
| Greek (transliterated) | 250 BC | Septuagint | Kai ostiV se aggareusei milion en upage met autou duo |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Et quicumque te angariaverit mille passus vade cum illo alia duo |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | And who euer constreyneth thee a thousynde pacis, go thou with hym othir tweyne. |
| Renaissance English | 1526 | Tyndale | And whosoever wyll copell the to goo a myle goo wyth him twayne. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | And whoever shall constrain thee to go one mile, go with him two. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | And whoever makes you go one mile, go with him two. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Matthew Chapter 5, Verse 41 |
| Cebuano | ug kon may mopugos kanimo sa pagpauban aniyag usa ka milya, ubani siyag duha ka milya. |
| Chinese | 有 人 強 逼 走 一 里 路 、 就 同 他 走 二 里 。 |
| Croatian | Ako te tko prisili jednu milju, poði s njim dvije. |
| Danish | Og dersom nogen tvinger dig til at gå een Mil,da gå to med ham! |
| Dutch | En zo wie u zal dwingen een mijl te gaan, gaat met hem twee mijlen. |
| Finnish | ja jos joku pakottaa sinua yhden virstan matkalle, kulje hänen kanssaan kaksi. |
| French | Si quelqu`un te force faire un mille, fais-en deux avec lui. |
| German | Und so dich jemand nötigt eine Meile, so gehe mit ihm zwei. |
| Hungarian | És a ki téged egy mértföldútra kényszerít, menj el vele kettõre. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Kalau seorang penguasa memaksa kalian memikul barangnya sejauh satu kilometer, pikullah sejauh dua kilometer. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Dan lagi barangsiapa yang memaksa engkau berjalan satu mil jauhnya, pergilah sertanya dua kali ganda. |
| Italian | E se uno ti costringer a fare un miglio, tu fanne con lui due. |
| Manx Gaelic | As quoi-erbee chionnys ort dy gholl un veeley marish, gow marish jees. |
| Maori | A ki te tonoa koe e tetahi kia haere kotahi te maero, kia rua au e haere tahi ai me ia. |
| Norwegian | og om nogen tvinger dig til å gå en mil, da gå to med ham. |
| Portuguese | e, se qualquer te obrigar a caminhar mil passos, vai com ele dois mil. |
| Rumanian | Dacq te silewte cineva sq mergi cu el o milq de loc, mergi cu el douq. |
| Russian | Й ЛФП ТЙОХ"ЙФ ФЕ'С Й"ФЙ У ОЙН П"ОП П ТЙЭЕ, Й"Й У ОЙН "ЧБ. |
| Shuar | Tura Káarkancha chikichik kirumitruk jurutkitia Túramkui ámeka Jimiará kirumitru ejeeta. |
| Spanish | A cualquiera que te obligue a llevar carga por una milla, ve con él dos. |
| Swahili | Mtu akikulazimisha kubeba mzigo wake kilomita moja, ubebe kilomita mbili. |
| Swedish | och om någon tvingar dig att till hans tjänst gå med en mil, så gå två med honom. |
| Uma | Ane hadua tantara mpewuku-ta mpokolo-ki kenia-na nte hakilo kalaa-na, kolo lau-miki kenia-na nte rokilo kalaa-na. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "twain": twains. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "twain": atwain. (additional references) | |
| |
"Twain" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: bwain, gwaun, tagin, taih, taind, taino, Tawi, Tawil, tawne, thain, tsai, twae, twai, twail, twan, twane, twant, twean, twein, twhin, twim, Twinix, twinn, twinq, twiny, twizn, Twohig, twoi, Twyi, zwain. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "twain" (pronounced twā"n) |
| 3 | -w ā" n | Swain, wain, wane. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: witan. | |
| Words within the letters "a-i-n-t-w" | |
-1 letter: anti, tain, twin, wain, wait, want. | |
-2 letters: ain, ait, ani, ant, awn, naw, nit, tan, taw, tin, twa, wan, wat, win, wit. | |
-3 letters: ai, an, at, aw, in, it, na, ta, ti. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-i-n-t-w" | |
+1 letter: atwain, tawing, twains. | |
+2 letters: antiwar, batwing, dawting, ringtaw, tawnier, tawnies, tawnily, tawsing, thawing, tinware, vawntie, wafting, waiting, waniest, wanting, wasting. | |
+3 letters: antiwear, antiweed, awaiting, fawniest, handwrit, inswathe, interwar, knitwear, ringtaws, strawing, swathing, swatting, sweating, tailwind, tawniest, thrawing, tinwares, trainway, trawling, twangier, twanging, twankies, tweaking, wainscot, waisting, waitings, waltzing, watching, watering, wattling, whinchat, wrathing. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Quotations: Fiction | 9. Usage Frequency 10. Cities 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Bible Trace 15. Abbreviations 16. Acronyms | 17. Derivations 18. Rhymes 19. Anagrams 20. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
