Dozen

How to spell dozen

5 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce dozen

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does dozen mean?

1. nounA group or set of twelve.

Dozen in a sentence

• The recipe calls for half a dozen eggs.

• She bought a dozen roses for the anniversary.

Where does dozen come from?

Language of origin: French

The word arrived in English in the 1300s from the Old French dozaine, meaning 'a group of twelve', which was formed from douze, the French word for 'twelve'. That in turn descends from the Latin duodecim, literally 'two and ten', built from duo 'two' and decem 'ten'. The same Latin root sits behind 'duodenum' (the part of the intestine once measured as about twelve finger-widths long) and behind the modern fascination with dozens in trade, where eggs, buns, and other goods were long counted in twelves. The spelling trap is that the second syllable is an unstressed schwa, so writers can be tempted to add an extra letter or misjudge the vowel; remembering the French dozaine and the bare 'doz' core helps anchor it.

How the word is built

• doz- (from Old French dozaine, from douze: twelve)
• -en (numeral group suffix)