Duo

How to spell duo

3 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce duo

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does duo mean?

1. nounTwo people or things considered together as a pair, often performing or working as a team.

Duo in a sentence

• The comedy duo has been touring together for fifteen years.

• The singing duo released their first album last spring.

Where does duo come from?

Language of origin: Italian

The word comes ultimately from the Latin duo, meaning simply 'two', a root that runs deep through European languages and survives in everyday English words such as 'dual', 'duet', and 'double'. English took 'duo' more directly from Italian in the early 1700s, where it was a musical term for a composition or performance written for two voices or instruments. From that musical sense it broadened to mean any pair of people working closely together, whether comedians, criminals, or business partners. The spelling stays close to the original Latin, with the unusual ending '-uo' that can trip writers who expect a more conventional English vowel pattern. Its short, transparent form makes it one of the rare loanwords that arrived almost unchanged.

How the word is built

• duo (from Latin/Italian: two)