phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Two-fold, three-fold, n-fold

Posted by GPP on October 30, 2003

In Reply to: Two-fold, three-fold, n-fold posted by Ida Know on October 29, 2003

: : Anybody know the origin of the saying "two-fold"? Why not "one-fold"? If you have a two-fold increase do you have twice as much as before? If you fold something in half twice doesn't the thickness increase by a factor of 4?

: And Yet, Ben Folds Five.

A 'fold' in a piece of paper, and 'n-fold', have separate (but related) etymologies. The 'fold' in two-fold, etc, means multiples, or times, etc. Thus two-fold simply means 'a multiple of two', not 'folded twice'.

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.