duodecimal

[doo-uh-des-uh-muhl, dyoo-]

adjective

1. pertaining to twelfths or to the number 12.

2. proceeding by twelves.

noun

1. one of a system of numbers based on the number 12.

2. one of 12 equal parts.

duodecimal

/ ˌdjuːəʊˈdɛsɪməl /

adjective

1. relating to twelve or twelfths

noun

1. a twelfth

2. one of the numbers used in a duodecimal number system

duodecimal

1. Relating to or based on the number 12; having 12 as the base. In the duodecimal number system, each digit represents a multiple of a power of 12 instead of 10. Thus the duodecimal number 24 represents (2 × 12 ¹) + (4 × 12 ⁰), or 28.

Other Word Forms

• duodecimally adverb
• duodecimality noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of duodecimal¹

1705–15; < Latin duodecim twelve + -al ¹

Example Sentences

Eventually, ancient Egyptian astronomers who used the duodecimal counting system, based on 12, divided the day and night into 12 hours each, giving us 24 hours in the day.

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Georges Ifrah, a 20th-century French mathematician, proposed that the sexagesimal system grew out of an alternative method of counting known as the duodecimal system, common throughout Asia.

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He spent the rest of the war in prison, betrayed by his ignorance of the duodecimal currency.

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The numerical system of the Babylonians was sexagesimal and duodecimal, not decimal, and the year consisted of twelve months, not of ten.

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He introduced the decimal system to replace the cumbersome duodecimal method of calculation, which up to his time had been used in mathematical astronomy.

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