system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How come the numbers 11 and 12 are called eleven and twelve and not oneteen and twoteen?
gpt
The words eleven & twelve come from the old German words einlif and zwolif, meaning one left & two left (as in left over from ten). Many cultures used a base 12 number system (as opposed to base 10 like we use). The reason I've seen for this is that many ancient cultures would count each knuckle on their fingers (using the thumb as a placeholder). You've got 3 knuckles on each finger (excluding your thumb), which makes twelve knuckles on each hand.