Dozen

The English word dozen comes from the old form douzaine, a French word meaning ("Assemblage de choses de même nature au nombre de douze" (translation: A group of twelve things of the same nature), as defined in the eighth edition of the ). This French word is a derivation from the cardinal numeral douze (, from Latin ) 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, quincena, veintena, centena, etc. English dozen, French , Catalan dotzena, Portuguese "dúzia", Persian dowjin "دوجین", Arabic (), Turkish "düzine", Hindi darjan "दर्जन", German , Swedish , Dutch , Italian and Polish tuzin, are also used as indefinite quantifiers to mean or (as in "a dozen times", "dozens of people"). A confusion may arise with the Anglo-Norman dizeyne (French dixaine or dizaine) a tithing, or group of ten households — dating from the earlier English system of grouping households into tens and hundreds for the purposes of law, order and mutual surety (see Tithing). In some texts this 'dizeyne' may be rendered as 'dozen'. ==Half a dozen==

s The phrase "half a dozen", also half-dozen or half dozen, means six (6) of something, as 6 is half of 12. The idiom "six of one, half a dozen of the other" means two options are of equal worth so choosing one is the same as choosing the other. ==Baker's dozen==

A '''baker's dozen, devil's dozen, or long dozen' is 13, one more than a standard dozen. The broadest use of baker's dozen'' is simply a group of thirteen objects. In medieval England the Assize of Bread and Ale law imposed severe punishments for short measure. Bakers in contravention could be penalized with a fine, a flogging, or destruction of their oven, so avoided the risk of penalty by including an extra unit to be sure the minimum weight was met. The thirteenth piece of bread is called the vantage loaf. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term "baker's dozen" originated in the late 16th century and is "apparently so called after the former practice among bakers of including a thirteenth loaf when selling a dozen to a retailer, the extra loaf representing the retailer's profit." According to the 1811 Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, by Francis Grose, "a Baker's Dozen is Thirteen; that number of rolls being allowed to the purchaser of a dozen". A lesser-used regionalism is the Texas dozen, which generally consists of 15. This is typically used only in Texas and surrounding areas for such goods as flowers or baked goods, although can be applied to anything that is counted, such as photographs. ==See also==