Everything about Dozen totally explained
Dozen is another word for the
number twelve. The dozen may be one of the earliest primitive groupings, perhaps because there are approximately a dozen cycles of the
moon or
months in a cycle of the
sun or
year. The dozen is convenient because its
multiples and
divisors are convenient: 12 =
2 × 2 ×
3 = 3 ×
4 = 2 ×
6,
60 = 12 ×
5,
360 = 12 ×
30. The use of twelve as a base number, known as the
duodecimal system (also as
dozenal), probably originated in
Mesopotamia (see also
sexagesimal). Twelve dozen (12
2 =
144, the duodecimal 100) are known as a
gross; and twelve gross (12
3 =
1,728, the duodecimal 1,000) are called a
great gross, a term most often used when shipping or buying items in bulk. A
great hundred, also known as a
small gross, is
120 or
ten dozen (a dozen for each
finger on both
hands). A
baker's dozen, also known as a
long dozen, is
thirteen.
The
English word
dozen (External Link
) (External Link) (External Link) comes from the old form of the
French word
douzaine, meaning "a group of twelve" (
"Assemblage de choses de même nature au nombre de douze" as defined in the eighth edition of the
Dictionnaire de l'Académie française). This French word
(External Link) is a derivation from the
cardinal number douze ("twelve", from
Latin duodĕcim) and the
collective suffix -aine (from Latin
-ēna), a suffix also used to form other words with similar meanings such as
quinzaine (a group of fifteen),
vingtaine (a group of twenty),
centaine (a group of one hundred), etc. These French words have synonymous
cognates in
Spanish:
docena (External Link)(External Link)(External Link),
quincena,
veintena,
centena, etc. English
dozen, French
douzaine and Spanish
docena, are also used as indefinite
quantifiers to mean "about twelve" or "many" (as in "a dozen times", "dozens of people").
Some historians believe that the
base twelve was important because it counts things relating to the marks on the fingers on each hand aside the thumbs. Each finger except for the thumb is divided in three parts, four fingers makes twelve possibilities of counting, and two hands makes possible the accounting of twenty four objects. Using the decimal base for counting only allows ten possibilities with the both hands, one visual option for each finger. This method for accounting was introduced by the
Babylonians and its still in use today.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Dozen'.
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