Have you ever wondered why eleven and twelve don't follow the same naming pattern as the rest of the "teen" numbers - thirteen, fourteen, and so forth? One of our grandchildren asked. I'd never thought about this before.
It probably has to do with the "Old Germanic ancestor languages of English." Several sources indicate "eleven" and "twelve" have to do with words that meant one left over and two left over after counting to ten. Read more about it here and here.
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