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twenty

TWEN-tee/ˈtwɛnti/

Noun pluraltwenties

5 meanings of twenty

Practice

  1. 1
    the numbernumeral
    The cardinal number 20; one more than nineteen and one less than twenty-one.

    The recipe makes twenty small biscuits at a time.

    He counted twenty cars waiting in the parking lot.

    UsageUse a hyphen for twenty-one to twenty-nine.

  2. 2
    range of numbersnounplural
    The set of numbers running from twenty (20) through twenty-nine (29).

    Overnight lows dropped into the twenties along the coast.

    The house numbers on that side of the street are all in the twenties.

    UsageFor age, usually a possessive: in her twenties, in her late twenties. Other ranges take the: in the twenties.

  3. 3
    paper moneynouncolloquialcountable
    A banknote with a face value of 20.

    He slipped the valet a twenty before driving off.

    I only had a couple of twenties left in my wallet.

    UsageShort for a twenty-dollar bill, a twenty-pound note, etc.

Less common meanings

  1. 4
    location (radio)noun
    A speaker's current location or position, in citizens-band radio slang.

    Breaker one-nine, what's your twenty?

    The trucker got on the CB and asked, "What's your twenty?"

    UsageCommon in the question What's your twenty?

    Similarlocation, position, whereabouts

    Note

    Radio shorthand shortened once more. Citizens-band operators use the ten-code 10-20 for location, and in speech they drop the ten. The phrase has traveled beyond the radio: Gwen Stefani, Tom Dumont and Tony Kanal's Settle Down (2012) uses it as a playful line about someone's whereabouts.

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • CB operators use 10-20 to mean location. en.wiktionary.org
    • Twenty is the shortened form of 10-20 used in the question about location. en.wikipedia.org
    • Settle Down was written by Gwen Stefani, Tom Dumont and Tony Kanal and released in 2012. en.wikipedia.org
    • Settle Down uses the question in lyrics referring to someone's whereabouts. en.wiktionary.org
  2. 5
    nounUK
    A former English division of foot soldiers, grouped together for military service.

Practice

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Origin

From Middle English twenty, from Old English twēntiġ, literally "two tens," an old compound of a word for "two" plus a suffix meaning "group of ten." It is related to Dutch twintig and German zwanzig.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 5 facts