twee

English

WOTD – 3 February 2016

Etymology

From a childish pronunciation of sweet. The Oxford English Dictionary records the first use in 1905 in Punch.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /twiː/
• Rhymes: -iː

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

Adjective

twee (comparative more twee or tweer, superlative most twee or tweest)

1. (British, derogatory) Overly quaint, dainty, cute or nice.

   Synonyms: (US) cutesy, precious, saccharine, syrupy

   Those Beatrix Potter animals are a little twee for my taste.

   • 1999, Janet Foster, Docklands: Urban Change and Conflict in a Community in Transition, London, Philadelphia, Pa.: UCL Press, →ISBN, page 82:

     Despite the fact that the designs were all a bit twee […] they stood out a mile in the market place at that time.

   • 2001, Alan Murphy, Scotland Highlands & Islands Handbook: The Travel Guide, Bath, Somerset: Footprint Handbooks, →ISBN, page 11:

     Forget the clichéd image of Brigadoon and shortbread tins, the dreadfully twee tartan tat and Celtic kitsch that, sadly, still exists in the 21st century, and is too often passed off as a genuine Highland experience.

   • 2002, Peter Ellison, Essential Non-fiction, Dublin: Folens Publishers, →ISBN, page 40:

     As always with Disney, there are moments when it all seems a bit twee, others when it is excessively PC.

   • 2005 September 8, Stephen S. Hall, quoting Richard Dawkins, “Darwin's Rottweiler: Sir Richard Dawkins: Evolution's fiercest champion, far too fierce”, in Discover‎^[1], archived from the original on 1 January 2016:

     I just wouldn’t have felt comfortable saying, "I am a duckbilled platypus, and this is how I find my shrimps." I think it would have been twee.

   • 2015 June 2, Kenneth Partridge, “With ‘West End Girls,’ Pet Shop Boys set a high standard for U.K. hip-hop”, in The A.V. Club‎^[2], archived from the original on 6 September 2015:

     [Neil] Tennant's accent obviously has a lot to do with that, but the fact he's rapping is further masked by his twee, effeminate delivery.

Related terms

• twee pop

Translations

Translations

• Czech: přeslazený (cs), vyumělkovaný
• Swedish: pimpinett

Noun

twee (uncountable)

1. (music) Ellipsis of twee pop.
   • 2005 October 24, Nitsuh Abebe, “Twee as Fuck”, in Pitchfork‎^[3]:

     Even the wider world got its doses of twee sound, from the fluffy pop of Aztec Camera to the stylish bounce of the Railway Children.

   • 2022 January 25, katie tobin, quoting Ian Wang, “Clutch Your Pearls, the Indie Twee Aesthetic is Back”, in Vice‎^[4]:

     Wang points out the very clear links between twee and queer culture, as many 90s twee bands “played alongside queercore bands like Team Dresch. […] ”

Anagrams

• ewte, weet

Afrikaans

Afrikaans numbers ^(edit)

	20
←  1	2	3  →
Cardinal: twee     Ordinal: tweede     Ordinal abbreviation: 2de

Alternative forms

• twé (obsolete)

Etymology

From Dutch twee, from Middle Dutch twee, twe, from Old Dutch twē, neuter form of twēne, from Proto-West Germanic *twai-, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tvɪə̯/, /tveə/

• Audio

  (file)

Numeral

twee

1. two

Anagrams

• weet

Dutch

Dutch numbers ^(edit)

	20
←  1	2	3  →
Cardinal: twee     Ordinal: tweede

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʋeː/

• audio (Belgium)

  (file)

• audio (Netherlands)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: twee
• Rhymes: -eː

Etymology 1

From Middle Dutch twêe, from Old Dutch twē, neuter form of twēne, from Proto-West Germanic *twai-, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ with plural suffix *-i.

Numeral

twee

1. two

Derived terms

• tweebaans
• tweebenig
• tweehonderd
• tweelandensim
• tweeling
• tweespalt
• tweetal
• tweetalig
• tweetallig
• tweevoud
• tweewerf
• tweezaadlobbig

 

Descendants

• Afrikaans: twee
• Berbice Creole Dutch: twe
• Jersey Dutch: tweî, twî
• Negerhollands: twee, twe
• Skepi Creole Dutch: twe
• → Trió: tuwei_me

Etymology 2

Noun

twee f (plural tweeën, diminutive tweetje n)

1. two

Anagrams

• weet
• wete

Low German

Low German cardinal numbers

<  1	2	3  >
Cardinal : twee     Ordinal : tweet

Alternative forms

• twei (Mecklenburgisch-Vorpommersch)

Etymology

From Middle Low German twê, from Old Saxon twene (“two”).

Numeral

twee

1. two

Coordinate terms

Cardinal numbers from 0 to 99

	—0	—1	—2	—3	—4	—5	—6	—7	—8	—9
0—	null	een	twee/twei	dree/drei	veer	fiev/fief	söß/söss	sæben/söven	acht	negen
1—	teihn/tein/tien	ölven/elf	twölf	dörteihn	veerteihn	föffteihn	sössteihn	söventeihn	achtteihn	negenteihn
2—	twintig	eenuntwintig	tweeuntwintig	dreeuntwintig	veeruntwintig	fiefuntwintig	sössuntwintig	sövenuntwintig	achtuntwintig	negenuntwintig
3—	dörtig	eenundörtig	tweeundörtig	dreeundörtig	veerundörtig	fiefundörtig	sössundörtig	sövenundörtig	achtundörtig	negenundörtig
4—	veertig	eenunveertig	tweeunveertig	dreeunveertig	veerunveertig	fiefunveertig	sössunveertig	sövenunveertig	achtunveertig	negenunveertig
5—	föfftig	eenunföfftig	tweeunföfftig	dreeunföfftig	veerunföfftig	fiefunföfftig	sössunföfftig	sövenunföfftig	achtunföfftig	negenunföfftig
6—	sösstig	eenunsösstig	tweeunsösstig	dreeunsösstig	veerunsösstig	fiefunsösstig	sössunsösstig	sövenunsösstig	achtunsösstig	negenunsösstig
7—	söventig	eenunsöventig	tweeunsöventig	dreeunsöventig	veerunsöventig	fiefunsöventig	sössunsöventig	sövenunsöventig	achtunsöventig	negenunsöventig
8—	achtig tachentig	eenunachtig eenuntachentig	tweeunachtig tweeuntachentig	dreeunachtig dreeuntachentig	veerunachtig veeruntachentig	fiefunachtig fiefuntachentig	sössunachtig sössuntachentig	sövenunachtig sövenuntachentig	achtunachtig achtuntachentig	negenunachtig negenuntachentig
9—	negentig	eenunnegentig	tweeunnegentig	dreeunnegentig	veerunnegentig	fiefunnegentig	sössunnegentig	sövenunnegentig	achtunnegentig	negenunnegentig

Cardinal numbers from 100 onward

• 100: hunnert
• 10³: dusend, duusend, eendusend
• 10⁴: teihndusend
• 10⁶: Milljon
• 10¹²: Billjon
• 10¹⁵: Billjard

…

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch twē, neuter form of twēne, from Proto-West Germanic *twai-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tweː/

Numeral

twêe

1. two

Descendants

• Dutch: twee
• Limburgish: twei, twieë
• Zealandic: tweê

Further reading

• “twee”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “twee”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

Plautdietsch

Etymology

From Middle Low German twê, from Old Saxon twene (“two”).

Numeral

twee

1. two, twain

Yola

Numeral

twee

1. Alternative form of twye

References

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 73