Twentie

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An informal name for a banknote worth twenty units of currency, such as a twenty-dollar bill
2. A slang term for a single note of twenty dollars or pounds handed over in everyday money exchange
3. Refers colloquially to a banknote with the face value of twenty units of the national currency

Etymology: Twentie is simply an obsolete spelling of twenty, and it shows the number's older shape more clearly than the modern form does. Twenty descends from Old English "twēntiġ", which literally meant "two tens." The Proto-Germanic ancestor was an old compound of "twain," meaning two, and "-tigaz," a word for a group of ten. The same pattern of "two tens" appears across the family: German "zwanzig," Dutch "twintig," and Danish "tyve" all descend from it. The spelling "twentie" follows the Middle English form "twenty" and "twenti," which was still being written in various ways before spelling settled. The final "-ie" was one of the many variant endings that scribes used for the same sound, and it fell out of use as the modern form became standard.