The word "twelve" is the largest number with a single-morpheme name in English. Etymology suggests that "twelve" (similar to "eleven") arises from the Germanic compound twalif "two-leftover", so a literal translation would yield "two remaining [after having ten taken]".[1] This compound meaning may have
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been transparent to speakers of Old English, but the modern form "twelve" is quite opaque. Only the remaining tw- hints that twelve and two are related. A group of twelve things is called a duodecad. The ordinal adjective is duodecimal, twelfth. The adjective referring to a group consisting of twelve things is duodecuple. The number twelve is often used as a sales unit in trade, and is often referred to as a dozen. Twelve dozen are known as a gross. (Note that there are thirteen items in a baker's dozen.)
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