dvīnis

Latvian

Dvīņi

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“twice, twofold”) (with an extra suffix *-no, *-nyo), from *dwi- (“two”), whence also divi (“two”) (q.v.). Cognates include Lithuanian dvynỹs, Old High German zwiniling (< *twi-na-), German Zwilling, English twin, Latin bini (“in twos, in pairs”) (< *dwis-no-).[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [dvìːnis]
(file)

Noun

dvīnis m (2nd declension, feminine form: dvīne)

  1. (male) twin (a boy born together with another child from one mother)
    dvīņu brālis ― twin brother (a man with a twin brother or sister)
    dvīņu māsa ― twin sister (a woman with a twin brother or sister)
    dvīņu zvaigzne ― twin star (i.e., a double star)
    dvīņu klēts ― twin barn (i.e., two barns under the same roof)
    dvīņi ir līdzīgi pēc ārienes ― twins are similar in appearance
    Kaspars domāja par saviem dvīņiem ― Kaspars thought about his twins (children)
    turcietei piedzimuši dvīņi, zēns un meitene ― the Turkish woman gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl

Usage notes

The singular forms exist but are much less frequent in actual usage than the plural forms (e.g., dvīņu brālis, with dvīņu used adjectivally, is more frequent than dvīnis).

Declension

Derived terms

References

  1. Karulis, Konstantīns (1992) “dvīņi”, in Latviešu Etimoloģijas Vārdnīca (in Latvian), Rīga: AVOTS, →ISBN
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.