Siamese twin

English

Etymology

Chang and Eng Bunker, conjoined twins from Siam (modern Thailand), were known as the "Siamese twins".

Noun

Siamese twin (plural Siamese twins)

1. A conjoined twin; one of two people physically joined together.
   • 1857, Herman Melville, chapter XXI, in The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade:

     the two stood together; the old miser leaning against the herb-doctor with something of that air of trustful fraternity with which, when standing, the less strong of the Siamese twins habitually leans against the other.

2. (linguistics) Either of a pair of words that occur together as an idiomatic expression or collocation, as in "hammer and sickle", "short and sweet", or "spick and span".

Usage notes

Some consider the term "Siamese twin" to be offensive, as it inordinately links Thais and Thailand to the birth defect.

Derived terms

• Siamese Twins / Siamese Twins Galaxies / Siamese Twin Galaxies / Siamese Twins Galaxy / Siamese Twin Galaxy

Translations

conjoined twin

• Danish: siamesisk tvilling c
• Dutch: Siamese tweeling m
• Esperanto: siama ĝemelo
• French: frère siamois m, sœur siamoise f
• German: siamesischer Zwilling (de) m
• Hungarian: sziámi iker
• Indonesian: kembar siam (id)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: cêwiyên siyamî (ku) n pl, hevalcêmkên pêkve n pl

• Malay: kembar Siam
• Mongolian: сиамын ихэр (siamyn ixer)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: siamesisk tvilling m

  Nynorsk: siamesisk tvilling m

• Polish: bliźnię syjamskie n
• Portuguese: gémeo siamês m (Portugal), gêmeo siamês m (Brazil)
• Romanian: geamăn siamez m, geamănă siameză f
• Russian: сиа́мский близне́ц m (siámskij bliznéc)
• Spanish: siamés
• Swedish: siamesisk tvilling c
• Turkish: Siyam ikizi, yapışık ikiz

Further reading

• Conjoined twins on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Siamese twins (linguistics) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Siamese twins (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia