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Where Number Words Come From
How number names form, spread and change: from hands and compounds to borrowed numerals, with examples from English, Japanese, Korean and many other languages.
Counting, Numerals and Mathematics
Number Words and Language
Where number names come from and how languages shape counting.
Dual and Trial Number in Grammar
Some languages mark exactly two or three in their grammar, not just one versus many. A look at dual and trial forms, where they occur and why they fade.
Indo-European Numerals and Their Shared Roots
Compare the words for one to ten in Sanskrit, Greek, Latin and English, and see how regular sound changes point back to a reconstructed common ancestor.
Languages With Few Number Words
What researchers reported about Piraha and Munduruku speakers, who use very few exact number words, and why scholars still disagree about what the findings show.
Numeral Classifiers in Chinese, Japanese and Korean
Chinese, Japanese and Korean put a counter word between a number and a noun. How classifiers work, with everyday examples and notes on how they differ by language.
Ordinal Numbers and the Words for First and Second
Why English 'first' and 'second' do not follow the pattern of 'fourth' and 'fifth', how ordinals are built, and where the clock's 'second' comes from.
Sino-Japanese and Native Japanese Number Readings
Japanese has two sets of number words, one native and one Chinese-derived. How they are used, and why four, seven and nine often have alternate readings.
Why Eleven and Twelve Are Irregular in English
Eleven and twelve do not follow the 'teen' pattern. Their Old English forms meant roughly 'one left' and 'two left', and the later teens were built differently.
Why French Says Quatre-Vingts
How French counts 80 as four twenties, why Belgium and Switzerland say septante and nonante, and what historians can and cannot say about the origin of the system.
Words Derived From Numbers like Decimate and Quarantine
Decimate, quarantine, fortnight, mile and other everyday words that began as numbers, with notes on how their meanings drifted away from counting.
Related topics
More in counting, numerals and mathematics
Numeral Systems Through History How Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Babylonians and Indian scholars wrote numbers. Counting Systems and Bases Tally marks, knotted cords, abaci and the different bases people counted in. Mathematical Curiosities in History Famous sequences, ratios and puzzles that gave numbers a reputation.