duo

C1 Topic:Actions & Processes

US /ˈdu.oʊ/ UK /ˈdjuː.əʊ/ See IPA manual

noun Freq #13461

Meanings

1

noun
Two people who perform, work, or act together.

The comedy duo had audiences laughing all night.
2

noun
A piece of music written for two performers.

They played a lively duo for violin and piano.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · two people who perform,... duet

2 noun · a piece of music written... duet

More brace couple couplet doubletduadduplet dyad pair twaintwinsometwosome

Word family

Forms duos

Derived forms dufoilsuper-duo

Related forms duet number quartet trio

Etymology

PIE word *dwóh₁ From French duo or Italian duo, from Latin duo (“two”), from Proto-Italic *duō, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Doublet of two, which was inherited via Proto-Germanic.

duo French *duō Proto-Italic *dwóh₁ Proto-Indo-European

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Actions & Processes

# duo

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** ˈdu.oʊ
**IPA (UK):** ˈdjuː.əʊ
**Frequency rank:** 13461

## Meanings
1. Two people who perform, work, or act together.
2. A piece of music written for two performers.

## Examples
- The comedy duo had audiences laughing all night.
- They played a lively duo for violin and piano.

## Synonyms
- brace
- couple
- couplet
- doublet
- duad
- duet
- duplet
- dyad
- pair
- twain
- twinsome
- twosome

## Derived Forms
- dufoil
- super-duo

## Related Forms
- duet
- number
- quartet
- trio

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: duo
- Root: *duō
- Root: *dwóh₁

## Etymology
PIE word *dwóh₁ From French duo or Italian duo, from Latin duo (“two”), from Proto-Italic *duō, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Doublet of two, which was inherited via Proto-Germanic.

## AI Etymology
Duo comes from French duo or Italian duo, from Latin duo (“two”), from Proto-Italic *duō, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Doublet of two, which was inherited via Proto-Germanic. The historical chain includes duo (French), duo (Italian), duo (Latin), *duō (Proto-Italic), and *dwóh₁ (Proto-Indo-European). The surrounding word family includes derived forms such as dufoil and super-duo and related forms such as duet, number, and quartet. In present use it covers two people who perform, work, or act together and a piece of music written for two performers.

## Topics
- Actions & Processes

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duo

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