Revised as of
7 Jan 2023
This is one of those -ed endings you may want to explore more in this word confusion “-ing and -ed Endings“, and much too typical of writers who have escaped understanding how these endings work.
In this instance, twined indicates wrapped around whereas twinned is always doubled. Hmmm, just like the n.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.
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| Twined | Twinned |
|---|---|
Ball of Hemp Twine by Emilian Robert Vicol (Flickr: Ball-of-Hemp-Twine_31614-480×360) is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — These strands are twined into a ball. |
Twin Room by Hawksapsan (My Way Hotel) is under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — Not much room between these two twin beds! |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Morpheme: twine
Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: twine Third person present verb: twines |
Morpheme: twin
Adjective; Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive Plural for the noun: twins Third person present verb: twins |
| Noun: Strong thread or string consisting of two or more strands of hemp, cotton, or nylon twisted together An act of twining, twisting, or interweaving A coiled or twisted object or part
A twist or turn in anything A knot or tangle Verb, intransitive:
To wind in a sinuous or meandering course To separate
Verb, transitive:
To separate
|
Adjective: [Of a crystal] A composite consisting of two (or sometimes more) parts that are reversed in orientation with respect to each other (typically by reflection in a particular plane) Forming, or being one of, a pair born at one birth
Noun:
Something containing or consisting of two matching or corresponding parts, in particular:
Verb, intransitive To be paired or coupled [Scottish] Twine Verb, transitive
To furnish a counterpart to or a replica of
[Informal] To divide or convert into two — parts, similar items, etc. [Informal] To link or combine with [Crystallography] To form into a twin [Obsolete] To give birth to as twins [Scottish] Twine |
| Examples: | |
| Noun: Jamie, grab some twine from the garage. Used to be, the post office required you to use twine to package up box mail. We’ll need a ball of twine. Verb, intransitive: Strangling vines twined about the tree. The branches of one tree twined with those of another. Verb, transitive: “She was twining a wisp of hair very slowly around her fingers” (Tyler). A spray of jasmine was twined in her hair. |
Adjective: These symmetrical intergrowths of crystals are called twinned crystals. St Paul and Minneapolis are twinned cities. Several ewes had twinned lambs. Noun: The girls have a twinned room. “A twinned crystal is an aggregate in which different domains are joined together according to a specific symmetry operation: the twin law” (Parsons). Verb, intransitive “Yes, I’m twinned with my brother, Paul,” she said. They were twinned at birth. Verb, transitive The new grocery store is twinned with a restaurant. The company twinned its core business of brewing with that of distilling. Crystal twinning occurs when two separate crystals share some of the same crystal lattice points in a symmetrical manner (Crystal). Twinning between 4 to 8 days after fertilization typically results in monochorionic-diamnioti — identical — twins that have their own amniotic sacs but share the placenta and chorionic sac. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: twineable Noun: twiner |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| Old English twīn, meaning thread, linen, from the Germanic base of twi-, or two and related to the Dutch twijn. | Late Old English twinn, meaning double, from twi-, or two and related to the Old Norse tvinnr.
The current verb senses date from late Middle English. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Twined versus Twinned
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Apple Dictionary.com
“Crystal Twinning.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crystal_twinning>.
Dictionary.com: twine
“eTwinning.” Wikipedia. n.d. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ETwinning>.
The Free Dictionary: twine
Tyler, Anne. Celestial Navigation. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc, New York: 1974. Vintage: 2011. <https://amzn.to/3WTqnJh>.
Parsons, Simon. “Introduction to Twinning.” Biological Crystallography. Acta Crystallographica Section D. IUCr Journals. vol 59, part 11. ISSN: 1399-0047. <https://doi.org/10.1107/S0907444903017657>. <http://journals.iucr.org/d/issues/2003/11/00/ba5036/>.
Pinterest Photo Credits
The landscape, Huémoz in Winter, is Emmanuelle Adjoa Bessi’s own work under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons, and Twine Spheres – DIY is with permission from Victoria at Mucho Crafts.
Huémoz in Winter was resized to fit the space while the background was removed and the chosen twine sphere from Twine Spheres – DIY was duplicated in Photoshop.
