two

Signal flag for the digit 2

• Two, TWO

Borrowed from English two.

• IPA^(key): [ˈtu]^[1]

two

1. (international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 2.

   Synonym: bissotwo (ITU/IMO)

ICAO/NATO radiotelephonic clear codes

code	Alfa	Bravo	Charlie	Delta	Echo	Foxtrot	Golf	Hotel	India	Juliett	Kilo	Lima	Mike
	November	Oscar	Papa	Quebec	Romeo	Sierra	Tango	Uniform	Victor	Whiskey	Xray	Yankee	Zulu
	zero	one	two	three (tree)	four (fower)	five (fife)	six	seven	eight	nine (niner)	hundred	thousand	decimal

ICAO/NATO vs ITU/IMO radiotelephonic clear codes for digits

ICAO/NATO	zero	one	two	three (tree)	four (fower)	five (fife)	six	seven	eight	nine (niner)
ITU/IMO	nadazero	unaone	bissotwo	terrathree	kartefour	pantafive	soxisix	setteseven	oktoeight	novenine

English numbers ^(edit)

	20
←  1	2	3  →
Cardinal: two     Ordinal: second     Latinate ordinal: secondary     Reverse order ordinal: second to last, second from last, last but one     Latinate reverse order ordinal: penultimate     Adverbial: two times, twice     Multiplier: twofold     Latinate multiplier: double     Distributive: doubly     Germanic collective: pair, twosome     Collective of n parts: doublet, couple, couplet     Greek or Latinate collective: dyad     Metric collective prefix: double-     Greek collective prefix: di-, duo-     Latinate collective prefix: bi-     Fractional: half     Metric fractional prefix: demi-     Latinate fractional prefix: semi-     Greek fractional prefix: hemi-     Elemental: twin, doublet     Greek prefix: deutero-     Number of musicians: duo, duet, duplet     Number of years: biennium

• twain (dated)
• twey (archaic)

PIE word
*dwóh₁

From Middle English two, twa, from Old English twā, feminine and neuter of twēġen (whence twain), from Proto-West Germanic *twai-, from Proto-Germanic *twai, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

Cognate with Scots twa (“two”); North Frisian tou, tuu (“two”); Saterland Frisian twäin, two (“two”); West Frisian twa (“two”); Dutch twee (“two”); Low German twee, twei (“two”); German zwei, zwo (“two”); Danish and Norwegian to (“two”); Swedish två, tu (“two”); Icelandic tvö (“two”); Faroese tvey (“two”); Latin duō (“two”); Ancient Greek δύο (dúo, “two”); Irish dhá (“two”); Lithuanian dù (“two”); Russian два (dva, “two”); Albanian dy (“two”); Old Armenian երկու (erku, “two”); Sanskrit द्व (dvá, “two”); Tocharian A wu, Tocharian B wi. Doublet of duo. See also twain.

• (UK, Canada) IPA^(key): /tuː/, [tʰu̟ː], enPR: to͞o

  • Audio (UK):

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /tu/, [tʰu̟], enPR: to͞o

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• Homophones: to, too
• Rhymes: -uː

two

1. A numerical value equal to 2; this many dots (••).
   • 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage […], New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:

     Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.

2. Describing a set or group with two elements.
   • 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 5, in Pulling the Strings:

     “ […] The two murders might have been done by one of the ryots who was dissatisfied over his assessment and thought he had a grievance. […].”

• Solombala English: ту (tu)

• Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages

two (plural twos)

1. The digit/figure 2.

   The number 2202 contains three twos.

2. (US, informal) A two-dollar bill.
3. A child aged two.

   This toy is suitable for the twos and threes.

4. A playing card featuring two pips.
5. Two o'clock, either a.m. or p.m.
   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “In which Three Investigators Come across a Dark Soul”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     It was a weary time. A carriage clock had been placed on the discoloured wooden mantelpiece, and slowly its hands crept on from one to two and from two to three.

6. (film) Short for two shot.

• two-up
• two's complement

• → Russian: туз (tuz, “two-oar dinghy”)

Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text)
ace	deuce, two	three	four	five	six	seven
eight	nine	ten	jack, knave	queen	king	joker

• OTW, TOW, Tow, WTO, owt, tow, wot

Middle English numbers ^(edit)

	20
[a], [b] ←  1	2	3  →
Cardinal: two, twei     Ordinal: secunde     Adverbial: twie, twies     Multiplier: twofold

• tuo, (Early ME, Northern ME) twa

From Old English twā, feminine of twēġen.

• IPA^(key): /twɔː/, /twoː/
• (Northern) IPA^(key): /twɑː/

two

1. two
   • p. 1154, “AD 1137”, in Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (MS. Laud Misc. 636, continuation), Peterborough, folio 89, verso; republished at Oxford: Digital Bodleian, 2018 February 8:

     Gif tƿa men oþer ·iii· coman ridend to an tun · al þe tunſcipe flugæn foꝛ heom. ƿenden ð hi ƿæron ræuereſ.

     If two or three men came riding into a town, the whole town ran away from them, concluding that they were robbers.

• English: two, twain (dated), twey (archaic)
  • Solombala English: ту (tu)
• Geordie English: twe
• Scots: twa, twae

• “twō, num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

• IPA^(key): /tvɔ/

two

1. feminine of twäin
2. neuter of twäin

• Marron C. Fort (2015) “two”, in Saterfriesisches Wörterbuch mit einer phonologischen und grammatischen Übersicht, Buske, →ISBN