Names of numbers in English

Here are examples of how to name numbers in English.

Contents

1 Cardinal numbers 2 Ordinal numbers 3 Dates 4 Fractions and decimals 5 Whether to use digits or words 6 Specialised numbers 7 See also 8 External links

Cardinal numbers

0	zero / nought / oh
1	one
2	two	20	twenty
3	three	30	thirty
4	four	40	forty (no "u")
5	five	50	fifty (note "f", not "v")
6	six	60	sixty
7	seven	70	seventy
8	eight	80	eighty (only one "t")
9	nine	90	ninety
10	ten
11	eleven
12	twelve
13	thirteen
14	fourteen
15	fifteen
16	sixteen
17	seventeen
18	eighteen (only one "t")
19	nineteen

If a number is in the range 21 to 99, and the second digit is not zero, one should write the number as two words separated by a hyphen.

21	twenty-one
25	twenty-five
32	thirty-two
58	fifty-eight
64	sixty-four
79	seventy-nine
83	eighty-three
99	ninety-nine

In English, the hundreds are perfectly regular, except that the word hundred remains in its singular form regardless of the number preceding it (obviously, one may on the other hand say "hundreds of people flew in", or the like)

100	one hundred
200	two hundred
300	three hundred
400	four hundred
500	five hundred
600	six hundred
700	seven hundred
800	eight hundred
900	nine hundred

So are the thousands, with the number of thousands followed by the word "thousand"

1,000	one thousand
2,000	two thousand
3,000	three thousand
4,000	four thousand
5,000	five thousand
6,000	six thousand
7,000	seven thousand
8,000	eight thousand
9,000	nine thousand
10,000	ten thousand
11,000	eleven thousand
12,000	twelve thousand
13,000	thirteen thousand
14,000	fourteen thousand
15,000	fifteen thousand
16,000	sixteen thousand
17,000	seventeen thousand
18,000	eighteen thousand
19,000	nineteen thousand
20,000	twenty thousand
21,000	twenty-one thousand
30,000	thirty thousand
85,000	eighty-five thousand
100,000	one hundred thousand
999,000	nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand (British English) nine hundred ninety-nine thousand (American English)
1,000,000	one million

In informal English, exact numbers larger than one million are seldom named, except perhaps for dramatic effect.

There is more than one way of forming intermediate numbers. One way is for when you are counting something. Another way is for when you are using numbers as labels. The second column method is used much more often in American English than British English. The third column is used in British English, but rarely in American English (although the use of the second and third columns is not necessarily directly interchangeable between the two regional variants).

	"How many marbles do you have?"	"What is your house number?"	"Which bus goes to the high street?"
101	"A hundred and one."	"One-oh-one." Here, "oh" is used for the digit zero.	"One-oh-one."
109	"A hundred and nine."	"One-oh-nine."	"One-oh-nine."
110	"A hundred and ten."	"One-ten."	"One-one-oh."
117	"A hundred and seventeen."	"One-seventeen."	"One-one-seven."
120	"A hundred and twenty."	"One-twenty."	"One-two-oh."
152	"A hundred and fifty-two."	"One-fifty-two."	"One-five-two."
208	"Two hundred and eight."	"Two-oh-eight."	"Two-oh-eight."
334	"Three hundred and thirty-four."	"Three-thirty-four."	"Three-three-four."

Note: When writing a cheque (or check), the number 100 is always written "one hundred". It is never "a hundred".

Note that in American English, it is non-standard to use the word and before tens and ones. It is instead used as a verbal delimiter when dealing with compound numbers. Thus, instead of "three hundred and seventy-three", Americans usually say (and write) "three hundred seventy-three". For details, see American and British English differences.

For numbers above a million, there are two different systems for naming numbers in English:

• the long scale (formerly used in British English) designates a system of numeric names in which the word billion means a million million (and a trillion is a million million million and so on);
• the short scale (always used in American English and almost always used in British English) designates a system of numeric names in which the word billion means a thousand million (and a trillion is a thousand thousand millon and so on).

Here are some approximate large numbers in American English:

Quantity	Written	Pronounced
1,200,000	1.2 million	one point two million
3,000,000	3 million	three million
250,000,000	250 million	two hundred and fifty million
1,000,000,000	1 billion	one billion (a billion is 1000 times 1 million)
6,400,000,000	6.4 billion	six point four billion
1,000,000,000,000	1 trillion	one trillion (a trillion is 1000 times 1 billion, or 1 million times 1 million)

Whereas, in British English, 1,000,000,000 may be referred to as a thousand million or a billion depending on the scale used. The same is true of billion and trillion, thousand billion and quadrillion, &c. The older long-scale words, milliard (for a thousand million), billiard, &c are now very rarely heard.

Although British English has traditionally followed the long-scale numbering system, the short-scale usage has become increasingly common in recent years. For example, the UK Government and BBC websites use the newer short-scale values exclusively.

Often, large numbers are written with (preferably non-breaking) half-spaces or thin spaces separating the thousands (and, sometimes, with normal spaces or apostrophes) instead of commas—to ensure that confusion is not caused in countries where a decimal comma is used. Thus, a million is often written 1 000 000.

In Commonwealth English, a point (. or ·) may also be used as a thousands' separator, as is usual in most non-English languages; but then, the decimal separator must be a comma.

Ordinal numbers

Here are some ordinal numbers.

0th	zeroth (see below for usage)
1st	first
2nd	second	20th	twentieth
3rd	third	30th	thirtieth
4th	fourth	40th	fortieth
5th	fifth	50th	fiftieth
6th	sixth	60th	sixtieth
7th	seventh	70th	seventieth
8th	eighth (only one "t")	80th	eightieth
9th	ninth (no "e")	90th	ninetieth
10th	tenth
11th	eleventh
12th	twelfth (note "f", not "v")
13th	thirteenth
14th	fourteenth
15th	fifteenth
16th	sixteenth
17th	seventeenth
18th	eighteenth
19th	nineteenth

Zeroth has no formal meaning, and may be considered mathematical or computer science jargon.

Ordinal numbers such as 21^st, 33^rd, etc, are formed by combining a cardinal ten with an ordinal unit.

21st	twenty-first
25th	twenty-fifth
32nd	thirty-second
58th	fifty-eighth
64th	sixty-fourth
79th	seventy-ninth
83rd	eighty-third
99th	ninety-ninth

Higher ordinals are not usually written in words. They are written using digits and letters as described below. Here are some rules that should be borne in mind.

• The suffixes -th, -st, -nd and -rd are usually written raised above the number itself (as superscript).
• If the ten's digit of a number is 1, then write "th" after the number. For example: 13^th, 19^th, 112^th, 9311^th.
• If the ten's digit is not equal to 1, then use the following table:

If the unit's digit is:	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
write this after the number	th	st	nd	rd	th	th	th	th	th	th

• For example: 2^nd, 7^th, 20^th, 23^rd, 52^nd, 135^th, 301^st.

These ordinal abbreviations are actually hybrid contractions of a numeral and a word. 1st is "1" + "st" from "first". Similarly, we use "nd" for "second" and "rd" for "third". In some older publications, the ordinal abbreviation for "second" and "third" is simply, "d"

• For example: 42^d, 33^d, 23^d

Any ordinal name that doesn't end in "first", "second", or "third", ends in "th".

Dates

Years before 2000 are read as follows:

1066	ten sixty-six
1492	fourteen ninety-two
1500	fifteen hundred
1502	fifteen oh two (note the "oh" for zero) or fifteen hundred and two
1776	seventeen seventy-six
1990	nineteen ninety

The year 2000 is read "two thousand".

Years after 2000 have no set system as of yet for expressing them; however, the second form of zeroth-decade year pronunciation is more common (that is, 2003 to be said as "two thousand (and) three"), and post-2010 dates are often said as normal (2010 would be "twenty ten").

Note that years are exceedingly rarely read as ordinal numbers, as "[...] in the one thousand one hundred and ninety-seventh year of our Lord" (that is, 1197), and this is considered archaic.

• In British, European and International (covering most of the world) English, the day comes before the month and the ordinal suffix is always vocalised and often appended: "the 1^st of October 1984". In writing, the and especially of, while vocalised, are generally left out from the written date, particularly when the date stands alone, such as when writing cheques: 1^st October 1984. The full form was common in older English, as can be seen in old English literature. The three main written forms are therefore:
  • The 25th of January 2005 (old English extended form rarely used now in written form, but still fully used for all three forms in spoken English)
  • 25th January 2005 (omitting "the" and "of")
  • 25 January 2005 (omitting the ordinal suffix)

• In North American English, the day usually comes after the month and the ordinal suffix is rarely written, but optionally vocalized: "September 4, 1990" (read "September four(th), nineteen ninety"). The British form is still used for certain dates such as the Fourth of July.

Compare:

• Today is (the) 14^th (of) March 2004. (British and international form, read "Today is the fourteenth of March, two thousand and four").
• We signed the documents on June 10, 1969. (North American form, read "...on June ten(th), nineteen sixty-nine").

The comma before the year is optional. It is usually used in American English (September 4, 2004) but seldom used in British and International English (4 September 2004). In abbreviations of month names, such as "Aug" for August, the period or full stop is often left out.

For an explanation of British, American and International usage for dates written in numbers, such as 14/03/2004 or 3/14/2004 or 2004-03-14, see calendar date.

Fractions and decimals

Here are some common fractions:

1/16	one-sixteenth
1/10 or 0.1	one-tenth
1/8	one-eighth
2/10 or 0.2	two-tenths
1/4	one-quarter or one-fourth
3/10 or 0.3	three-tenths
1/3	one-third
3/8	three-eighths
4/10 or 0.4	four-tenths
1/2	one half
6/10 or 0.6	six-tenths
5/8	five-eighths
2/3	two-thirds
7/10 or 0.7	seven-tenths
3/4	three-quarters or three-fourths
8/10 or 0.8	eight-tenths
7/8	seven-eighths
9/10 or 0.9	nine-tenths
15/16	fifteen-sixteenths

Alternatively, and for greater numbers, one may say for 1/2 "one over two", for 5/8 "five over eight", and so on.

Numbers with a decimal point are usually read as a whole number, then "point", then separate digits: it is not correct to read "0.12" as "zero point twelve".

• For example:
  • 0.002 is "zero point zero zero two"
  • 3.1416 is "three point one four one six"
  • 99.3 is "ninety-nine point three" (notice the usage of "ninety")

Some English speakers will say nought for the symbol 0. Thus, 0.002 becomes "nought point nought nought two". Sometimes, oh is also used (oh point oh oh two).

Very often, if the whole number is 0, it is not actually said in speech. Thus, "point nought nought two", "point zero zero two" or "point oh oh two".

The decimal point is sometimes in writing placed at the top of the line and sometimes at the centre (0·002), and is sometimes replaced by a decimal comma, especially in international publications.

• Fractions together with an integer are read as follows:
  • 1 1/2 is "one and a half"
  • 6 1/4 is read as "six and a quarter"
  • 7 5/8 is "seven and five eighths"

A space is required between the whole number and the fraction, however, if a special fraction character is used like "½", then the space can be done without, eg.

• • 9 1/2
  • 9½

See also English-language numerals.

Whether to use digits or words

According to your friendly neighborhood copy editor and/or English teacher, the numbers zero through nine should be "written out" – meaning instead of "1" and "2", one would write "one" and "two".

Example: "I have two apples." (Correct)

Example: "I have 2 apples." (Incorrect)

After "nine", one can head straight back into the 10, 11, 12, etc., although some write out the numbers until "twelve".

Example: "I have 28 grapes." (Correct)

Example: "I have twenty-eight grapes." (Incorrect)

Another common usage is to write out any number that can be expressed as one or two words, and use figures otherwise.

Examples:

"There are six million dogs." (Correct)

"There are 6,000,000 dogs." (Incorrect)

"That is one hundred twenty-five oranges." (Incorrect)

"That is 125 oranges." (Correct)

Numbers at the beginning of a sentence should also be written out.

The above rules are not always used. In literature, larger numbers might be spelled out.

Specialised numbers

When dealing with sport, results are read as in the following examples:

• 1–0 – British English: "one nil"; American English "one nothing" or "one zero"
• 0–0 – British English: "nil nil" or "nil all"; American English: "zero zero" (but never "nothing nothing")
• 2–2 – two two (or "two to two" or "two all")
• 2–1 – two one (or "two to one")

Tennis sometimes uses "love" for zero. Its origin stems from either the French l'oeuf (the egg), owing to zero's shape, or from players playing for the love of the game (i.e., nothing).

When stressing nothingness, other terms are used for 0: zero, zilch, nada, null, zip. This is true especially in combination with one another: "You know nothing – zero, nada, zilch!"

See also

• English-language numerals
• List of numbers

External links

• English Numbers (http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary/numbers) - explanations, exercises and number generator (cardinal and ordinal numbers)