two

[too] /tu/

noun

a cardinal number, 1 plus 1.

a symbol for this number, as 2 or II.

a set of this many persons or things.

a playing card, die face, or half of a domino face with two pips.

adjective

amounting to two in number.

Idioms

in two, into two separate parts, as halves:

A bolt of lightning split the tree in two.

put two and two together, to draw a correct conclusion from the given circumstances; infer:

It didn't require a great mind to put two and two together.

Origin

before 900; Middle English; Old English twā (feminine and neuter; cf. twain); cognate with German zwei; compare Latin duo, Greek dýo

Can be confused

to, too, two.

Examples from the web for two

In a video taken from another direction, two officers can be seen dousing protesters with pepper spray at the same time.
Yet the city is now hosting a splendid exhibition that reaffirms the important link between the two.
The planet orbits inside a disk of material around the star that's no more than two million years old.
two funerals, two days apart, two grandfathers of my two sons.
Repeat on remaining two sides, then staple all around the edges, pulling cloth tight.
Sprint wants you to believe that two screens are better than one.
They have two options, either of which would involve radically re-engineering their business model, as they might put it.
Scientists have spotted the wreckage from a spectacular collision between two planets deep in space.
The burial hinted at an emotional bond between two people.
To create two-tone pops, make two different recipes and use twice as many molds.

British Dictionary definitions for two

two

/tuː/

noun

the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one. It is a prime number See also number (sense 1)

a numeral, 2, II, (ii), etc, representing this number

(music) the numeral 2 used as the lower figure in a time signature, indicating that the beat is measured in minims

something representing, represented by, or consisting of two units, such as a playing card with two symbols on it

Also called two o'clock. two hours after noon or midnight

in two, in or into two parts: break the bread in two

put two and two together, to make an inference from available evidence, esp an obvious inference

that makes two of us, the same applies to me

determiner

amounting to two: two nails
(as pronoun): he bought two

adjectives binary double dual prefixes di- bi-

Word Origin

Old English twā (feminine); related to Old High German zwā, Old Norse tvau, Latin, Greek duo

Word Origin and History for two

Old English twa, fem. and neuter form of twegen "two" (see twain), from Proto-Germanic *twai (cf. Old Saxon and Old Frisian twene, twa, Old Norse tveir, tvau, Dutch twee, Old High German zwene, zwo, German zwei, Gothic twai), from PIE *duwo (cf. Sanskrit dvau, Avestan dva, Greek duo, Latin duo, Old Welsh dou, Lithuanian dvi, Old Church Slavonic duva, first element in Hittite ta-ugash "two years old").

Dance style two-step is recorded from 1900. Twofer is first recorded 1911 (originally in reference to cigars), from two for (a dollar, etc.). Two cheers for _____, expressing qualified enthusiasm first recorded 1951 in E.M. Forster's title "Two Cheers for Democracy." Two-dimensional is recorded from 1883; figurative sense of "lacking substance or depth" is attested from 1934.

Slang definitions & phrases for two

two

Related Terms

number two, one-two