this post was submitted on 27 Apr 2024
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It’s a holdover from an older base-12 counting system, one of many, many relics of the fact that English is an ever evolving language.
Edit: it’s not a holdover from a different base, but a different way of counting. See comment below for details.
No, it supposedly derives from an old word for a leftover. Eleven is one left over after ten; twelve is two left over after ten. https://www.oed.com/dictionary/eleven_adj?tab=etymology#5639642