numeral

See also: Numeral, numéral, and numeral'

English

Etymology

As an adjective, from Middle English numeral, numerall, from Latin numerālis (“pertaining to a number”), from numerus (“a number”).

As a noun, via Middle French numeral.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nyo͞oʹm(ə)rəl, IPA^(key): /ˈnjuːməɹəl/, /ˈnjuːmɹəl/
• (General American) enPR: no͞oʹm(ə)rəl, IPA^(key): /ˈnuməɹəl/, /ˈnumɹəl/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: nu‧mer‧al, num‧eral

Noun

numeral (plural numerals)

1. A symbol that is not a word and represents a number, such as the Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3 or the Roman numerals I, V, X, L.
2. A representation of a number composed of such symbols.
   • 1966, Robert Lee Morton, Modern Mathematics Through Discovery, page 97:

     Compare the numeral for the product with the original decimal numeral.

4. (linguistics) A number word, a simple or compound word for a number often having particular grammatical attributes depending on the language.

   Hyponyms: cardinal numeral, ordinal numeral, distributive numeral, multiplicative numeral, multiplier, collective numeral

   • 2002, Laurie Bauer, Rodney Huddleston, “Lexical word-formation”, in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 1715:

     We use the term numeral for linguistic expressions and number for meanings. For example, five is a numeral expressing the number "5" - and fifteen hundred and one thousand five hundred are different numerals expressing the same number, "1,500".

5. (card games) A card whose rank is a number (usually including the ace as 1).

   Jacks, queens, and kings are not numerals.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:numeral.

Derived terms

• Arabic numeral
• binary numeral system
• Chinese numeral
• Church numeral
• collective numeral
• Cyrillic numeral
• Devanagari numeral
• Greek numeral
• Hindu-Arabic numeral
• Hindu numeral
• Indo-Arabic numeral
• rod numeral
• Roman numeral
• Suzhou numeral

Translations

non-word symbol that represents a number

• Albanian: numër (sq) m
• Arabic: عَدَد (ar) m (ʕadad), رَقْم (ar) m (raqm)
• Azerbaijani: nömrə (az)
• Belarusian: лі́чба f (líčba), цы́фра f (cýfra)
• Bulgarian: ци́фра (bg) f (cífra), число́ (bg) n (čisló)
• Catalan: número (ca) m, xifra (ca)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 數字 / 数字 (sou³ zi⁶)

  Hokkien: 數字 / 数字 (zh-min-nan) (sò͘-lī / sò͘-jī)

  Mandarin: 數字 / 数字 (zh) (shùzì)

  Wu: 數字 / 数字 (⁵su-zy)

• Crimean Tatar: raqam
• Czech: číslice (cs) f
• Danish: tal (da) n
• Dutch: cijfer (nl) n
• Faroese: talstavur m
• Finnish: numero (fi)
• French: chiffre (fr) m
• German: Zahl (de) f, Ziffer (de) f, Zahlzeichen (de) n
• Hebrew: סִפְרָה (he) f (sifrá)
• Hindi: अंक (hi) m (aṅk), संख्या (hi) f (saṅkhyā), नंबर (hi) m (nambar)
• Hungarian: szám (hu), számjegy (hu)
• Ingrian: numerali, cislasana
• Irish: figiúr m
• Japanese: 数字 (ja) (すうじ, sūji)
• Kazakh: сан (san), нөмір (nömır)
• Korean: 숫자(數字) (ko) (sutja)
• Kyrgyz: сан (ky) (san)
• Macedonian: бројка f (brojka)
• Maori: tohutau, tūtau
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tall (no) n

  Nynorsk: tal (no) n

• Persian:

  Classical Persian: عَدَد (adad), رَقَم (raqam)

  Iranian Persian: عَدَد (adad), رَقَم (rağam)

• Polish: cyfra (pl) f
• Romanian: număr (ro) n
• Russian: ци́фра (ru) f (cífra), число́ (ru) n (čisló), но́мер (ru) m (nómer)
• Scottish Gaelic: figear m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: бро̑јка f

  Roman: brȏjka (sh) f

• Slovak: číslica (sk) f
• Slovene: številka f
• Spanish: número (es) m, cifra (es) f
• Swedish: tal (sv) n, siffra (sv) c
• Tagalog: pamilang, pambilang
• Tajik: адад (tg) (adad), рақам (tg) (raqam)
• Tibetan: ཨང་ཀི (ang ki)
• Ukrainian: ци́фра (uk) f (cýfra), число́ (uk) n (čysló)
• Urdu: عَدَد m ('adad), رَقَم f (raqam), نَمْبَر m (nambar)
• Uyghur: سان (san)
• Uzbek: raqam (uz), son (uz)
• Vietnamese: số (vi)
• Welsh: rhifolyn m
• Yiddish: ציפֿער m or f (tsifer)

word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral

• Albanian: numër (sq) m, shifër (sq) m, numëror (sq) m
• Arabic: عَدَد (ar) m (ʕadad), رَقْم (ar) m (raqm)
• Armenian: թվական (hy) (tʻvakan)
• Asturian: numberal
• Azerbaijani: say (az), rəqəm (az), ədəd (az)
• Bashkir: һан (han)
• Belarusian: лічэ́бнік m (ličébnik)
• Bengali: অঙ্ক (bn) (oṅko), সংখ্যা (bn) (śoṅkha)
• Breton: niver (br) m
• Bulgarian: числи́телно и́ме n (čislítelno íme), числи́телно (bg) n (čislítelno)
• Burmese: ဂဏန်း (my) (ga.nan:)
• Carpathian Rusyn: чісло́вник m (čislóvnyk)
• Catalan: número (ca) m, xifra (ca) f, numeral (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 數詞 / 数词 (sou³ ci⁴), 數字 / 数字 (sou³ zi⁶)

  Dungan: фур (fur)

  Mandarin: 數詞 / 数词 (zh) (shùcí), 數字 / 数字 (zh) (shùzì)

• Crimean Tatar: sayı
• Czech: číslovka (cs) f
• Danish: talord (da) n, numerale (da) n
• Dutch: telwoord (nl) n
• Esperanto: numeralo (eo), nombrovorto (eo)
• Estonian: arvsõna
• Finnish: numero (fi) (symbol), numeraali (fi) (word)
• French: chiffre (fr) m
• German: Numerale (de) n (only referring to words), Zahlwort (de) n
• Greek: αριθμός (el) m (arithmós), νούμερο (el) n (noúmero), ψηφίο (el) n (psifío)
• Hebrew: סִפְרָה (he) f (sifrá)
• Hindi: अंक (hi) m (aṅk), संख्या (hi) f (saṅkhyā)
• Hungarian: számnév (hu)
• Icelandic: töluorð (is) n
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} angka (id), ^{(please verify)} bilangan (id) , (used to differentiate) ^{(please verify)} nomer (id)
• Interlingua: numero (ia), numeral
• Italian: numero (it) m, cifra (it) f
• Japanese: 数字 (ja) (すうじ, sūji), 数詞 (ja) (すうし, sūshi)
• Kazakh: сан (san)
• Korean: 숫자(數字) (ko) (sutja), 수사(數詞) (ko) (susa)
• Kyrgyz: сан (ky) (san)
• Lao: ເລກ (lēk), ຕົວເລກ (tūa lēk)
• Latvian: skaitļa vārds, numerālis m
• Lithuanian: skaitvardis (lt) m
• Macedonian: број (mk) m (broj)
• Malay: angka (ms)
• Maltese: numru (mt), ċifra
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тооны нэр (toony ner)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tall (no) n, tallord n, numerale n

  Nynorsk: tal (no) n, talord n, numerale n

• Pashto: رقم (ps) m (raqam), عدد (ps) m ('adad)
• Persian:

  Classical Persian: عَدَد (adad), رَقَم (raqam)

  Iranian Persian: عَدَد (adad), رَقَم (rağam)

• Polish: liczebnik (pl) m inan
• Portuguese: número (pt), numeral (pt)
• Romanian: număr (ro) n, numeral (ro) n
• Russian: числи́тельное (ru) n (čislítelʹnoje), и́мя числи́тельное (ru) n (ímja čislítelʹnoje), ци́фра (ru) f (cífra), число́ (ru) n (čisló)
• Sanskrit: संख्या (sa) f (saṃkhyā)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: brȏj (sh) m

  Roman: brȏj (sh) m

• Slovak: číslovka (sk) f
• Slovene: števnik (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: licbnik m

  Upper Sorbian: numeral m, ličbnik m

• Southern Altai: тооломо (toolomo)
• Spanish: letra numeral m
• Swedish: siffra (sv) c, räkneord (sv) n
• Tajik: рақам (tg) (raqam), адад (tg) (adad)
• Tatar: сан (tt) (san)
• Thai: เลข (th) (lêek), ตัวเลข (th) (dtuua-lêek)
• Tibetan: གྲངས་ཚིག (grangs tshig)
• Turkish: rakam (tr), adet (tr), sayı (tr)
• Turkmen: san (tk)
• Udmurt: лыдним (lydńim)
• Ukrainian: числі́вник (uk) m (čyslívnyk)
• Urdu: عَدَد m ('adad), رَقَم f (raqam)
• Uyghur: رەقەم (reqem), سان (san)
• Uzbek: raqam (uz), son (uz)
• Vietnamese: số từ (vi)
• Volapük: numavöd (vo)
• Welsh: rhifolyn m

See also

• digit

Adjective

numeral (not comparable)

1. Of or relating to numbers; numerical.
   • 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:

     A long train of numeral progressions.

Synonyms

• (of or relating to numbers): numeric; see also Thesaurus:numerical

Derived terms

• noun numeral
• numeral system

Further reading

• “numeral”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “numeral”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “numeral”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Galician

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /numeˈɾal/ [nũ.meˈɾɑɫ]
• Rhymes: -al
• Hyphenation: nu‧me‧ral

Noun

numeral m (plural numerais)

1. (grammar) numeral (word representing a number)

Further reading

• “numeral”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /numeˈral/

Adjective

numeral

1. numeral

Noun

numeral

1. numeral

Middle French

Adjective

numeral m (feminine singular numerale, masculine plural numeraux, feminine plural numerales)

1. numeral; numerical
   • 1474, author unknown, Mystere de l'Incarnation:

     Numerales proporcions

     Numerical proportions

References

• Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX^e au XV^e siècle (1881) (numeral, supplement)

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

numeral n (definite singular numeralet, indefinite plural numeral or numeraler, definite plural numerala or numeralene)

1. numeral

   Synonym: tallord

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

numeral n (definite singular numeralet, indefinite plural numeral, definite plural numerala)

1. numeral

   Synonym: talord

Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /nymeˈral/
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

numeral

1. numeral

Portuguese

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin numerālis.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /nu.meˈɾaw/ [nu.meˈɾaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /nu.mɨˈɾal/ [nu.mɨˈɾaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /nu.mɨˈɾal/ [nu.mɨˈɾaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /nu.mɨˈɾa.li/

• Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
• Hyphenation: nu‧me‧ral

Adjective

numeral m or f (plural numerais, not comparable)

1. numeral, numeric

Noun

numeral m (plural numerais)

1. (linguistics) numeral

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French numeral, from Latin numeralis. By surface analysis, număr +‎ -al.

Adjective

numeral m or n (feminine singular numerală, masculine plural numerali, feminine and neuter plural numerale)

1. numeral

Declension

Declension of numeral

		singular				plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine		masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative- accusative	indefinite	numeral		numerală		numerali	numerale
	definite	numeralul		numerala		numeralii	numeralele
genitive- dative	indefinite	numeral		numerale		numerali	numerale
	definite	numeralului		numeralei		numeralilor	numeralelor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /numeˈɾal/ [nu.meˈɾal]
• Rhymes: -al
• Syllabification: nu‧me‧ral

Noun

numeral m (plural numerales)

1. (linguistics) numeral

Derived terms

• nombre numeral

Further reading

• “numeral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10