Mellizos o gemelos

[Perikles]

Santa Cruz de Tenerife/ Las familias canarias que tengan mellizos o gemelos recibirán a partir de ahora ayudas.

Exactly what is the difference? Does this difference have regional variations?

[Ambarina]

Gemelos = identical twins
Mellizos = non-identical twins

I think this has come up in another thread but I can't find it.

[sosia]

gemelos: Identical twins. They come from the same fertilliced cell
Mellizos: they come from diferent fertiliced cells, They can be both male, both female, or male and a female.

saludos

[Perikles]

Thanks - my dictionary defines them both as 'twin'. Both words have the same root L. geminus (gemelo - gemellus - diminutive of geminus; mellizo from Vulg. Latin *gemellicius from gemellus). I was just wondering whether people really do make a distinction between the two.

[pjt33]

My experience (I'm a non-identical twin, so I have a bit!) is that people with a degree in Spanish philology do make a distinction and most other people just call all twins gemelos. I've witnessed a native speaker call identical twins mellizos, and I've used "mellizo" with an Ecuadorian friend and then had to explain to him what it means.

Basically, it's like español vs castellano: whichever you use, you'll be wrong.

[irmamar]

De todos modos, un médico te hablará de "embarazo gemelar", sean gemelos o mellizos (univitelino o bivitelino).

[laepelba]

How about triplets? How would one express the idea of identical vs. fraternal triplets? (Likewise, quads, quints, etc.?)

[irmamar]

Then x-llizos: trillizos, cuatrillizos, quintillizos y creo que hasta sextillizos.

[sosia]

Alltough I do make a distinction (I'm always curious ), I agree with pjt33 that the term is very relaxed, and in an usual conversation you can hear both with no proper signification.

@ irmamar
"De todos modos, un médico te hablará de "embarazo gemelar", sean gemelos o mellizos (univitelino o bivitelino). "
Es correcto, pero yo creo que se cura en salud, el médico no sabe si son mellizos hasta tarde ...

Saludos

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

How about triplets? How would one express the idea of identical vs. fraternal triplets? (Likewise, quads, quints, etc.?)

Trust a mathematician to extend the specific to another case with a probability of 1 in 200 million.

From the internet: "TRILLIZOS GEMELARES IDENTICOS" NACEN UNO CADA 200 MILLONES DE PERSONAS
NACIERON EL 17 DE OCTUBRE DE 2007

Note the tautology.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Then x-llizos: trillizos, cuatrillizos, quintillizos y creo que hasta sextillizos.

Originally Posted by Perikles

Trust a mathematician to extend the specific to another case with a probability of 1 in 200 million.

From the internet: "TRILLIZOS GEMELARES IDENTICOS" NACEN UNO CADA 200 MILLONES DE PERSONAS
NACIERON EL 17 DE OCTUBRE DE 2007

Note the tautology.

Seriously, I teach a sibling group that includes a set of identical triplets. They have no discernible physical difference (they can't even tell you how to tell themselves apart). (They come to me with an older sister.) All three of the triplets have the same first name as well (they go by their middle names), but the gradebook and attendance software only accepts first names and does not show middle names. Talk about the teacher getting confused on a regular basis.

Anyway - if you are talking about non-identical triplets, it would be "trillizos", but if they're identical you would say "trillizos gemelares identicos"?

"Tengo trillizos gemelares identicos en uno de mis clases." ??

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Anyway - if you are talking about non-identical triplets, it would be "trillizos", but if they're identical you would say "trillizos gemelares identicos"?

Well, that was the point of my post, because that is what somebody Spanish says when reporting here, though technically it is tautologous.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Lou Ann: colloquial speech would just say "trillizos". The context will tell that they're identical to one another.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@Lou Ann: colloquial speech would just say "trillizos". The context will tell that they're identical to one another.

Thanks. By the way - this group of hermanas is from Guadalajara.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It will be "trillizas" then.

[laepelba]

DOH! I knew that, didn't I?

[Tomisimo]

Another term for "twins" is "cuates" (used only in Mexico, as far as I know)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

David is right. Although we don't make much difference between "mellizos" and "gemelos", "cuates" is almost exclusively used for non-identical twins.