12

Meaning

Noun

Police or law enforcement, collectively.

Symbol

Used by fans of American football, positioning themselves as the 12th member of an 11-player team.

Symbol

The Aryan Brotherhood: an American white supremacist, neo-Nazi prison gang and crime syndicate.

Synonyms

twelve

dozen

mifepristone

7

2

6

9

15

14

8

11

XII

9 diene 3 -one

15-octade-catrienoic acid

xii

Translations

douze

12

12

12

dizaine

dodici

12

dotze

12

12

dúzia

docena

XII

dotzena

douzaine

mifépristone

Etymology

Of uncertain origin. Widespread use of the phrase as an anti-police slogan grew following the 2014 killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
* Possibly from 1312, an alternative form of ACAB (“all cops are bastards”) in which the letters are substituted with their position in the alphabet.
* Alternatively, from the American police procedural television series Adam-12 (1968–1975), in which 1-Adam-12 refers to a patrol unit and its radio call sign.
Likely popularized by "F*ck 12", a song by American hip-hop group Migos from their 2013 mixtape Y.R.N. (Young Rich Niggas), which uses 12 in reference to the police while describing a narcotics raid: “12 kickin' in my front door […] 12 in my home, they won't leave me alone”.