Twisnesse

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic state of doubt, hesitation or uncertainty about what to believe or do ; a breaking apart into opposing sides or a quarrel that divides people
2. Hesitation and wavering of mind in Middle English usage ; a split or disagreement that separates parties into two camps
3. Uncertainty of judgment, as expressed in older English writing ; the condition of being divided or set at odds with one another

Etymology: Its meaning is "twoness" or duality, the condition of being two or of having two parts. It is built from "twi-", an Old English combining form of "two" that survives in words like "twibill" and "twifold", and the suffix "-nesse", the Old English ending that turns an adjective into an abstract noun, as in "goodness" or "darkness." Attested spellings appear in Middle English, and the Middle English form is the one that matters here. Because the word is a transparent compound rather than a loan or a coinage with a known author, its history is mostly the history of its two parts, and it seems to have stayed a rare, learned formation rather than a common everyday term.