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Numeral or number prefixes are
prefix A prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Adding it to the beginning of one word changes it into another word. For example, when the prefix ''un-'' is added to the word ''happy'', it creates the word ''unhappy''. Particu ...
es derived from numerals or occasionally other
number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers ...
s. In English and many other languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words. For example: * unicycle, bicycle, tricycle (1-cycle, 2-cycle, 3-cycle) * dyad, triad (2 parts, 3 parts) * biped, quadruped (2 legs, 4 legs) * September, October, November, December (month 7, month 8, month 9, month 10) * decimal, hexadecimal (base-10, base-16) * septuagenarian, octogenarian (70-79 years old, 80-89 years old) * centipede, millipede (around 100 legs, around 1000 legs) In many European languages there are two principal systems, taken from
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power ...
and
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, each with several subsystems; in addition,
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominalization, nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cul ...
occupies a marginal position. There is also an international set of
metric prefix A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or submultiple of the unit. All metric prefixes used today are decadic. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to any unit symbol. The pr ...
es, which are used in the
metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that succeeded the decimalised system based on the metre that had been introduced in France in the 1790s. The historical development of these systems culminated in the definition of the Intern ...
and which for the most part are either distorted from the forms below or not based on actual number words.


Table of number prefixes in English

In the following prefixes, a final vowel is normally dropped before a root that begins with a vowel, with the exceptions of ''bi-,'' which is ''bis-'' before a vowel, and of the other monosyllables, ''du-, di-, dvi-, tri-,'' which are invariable. The ''cardinal'' series are derived from
cardinal number In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality (size) of sets. The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number: the number of elements in the set. T ...
s, such as the English ''one, two, three.'' The ''multiple'' series are based on adverbial numbers like the English ''once, twice, thrice.'' The ''distributive'' series originally meant ''one each, two each'' or ''one by one, two by two,'' etc., though that meaning is now frequently lost. The ''ordinal'' series are based on ordinal numbers such as the English ''first, second, third'' (for numbers higher than 2, the ordinal forms are also used for fractions; only the fraction has special forms). For the hundreds, there are competing forms: those in ''-gent-'', from the original Latin, and those in ''-cent-'', derived from ''centi-'', etc. plus the prefixes for 1–9. The same suffix may be used with more than one series: : ; Examples


Occurrences

* Numerical prefixes occur in 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century coinages, mainly the terms that are used in relation to or that are the names of technological innovations, such as hexadecimal and bicycle. Also used in medals that commemorate an
anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded in a previous year, and may also refer to the commemoration or celebration of that event. The word was first used for Catholic feasts to commemorate saint ...
, such as sesquicentennial (150 years), centennial (100 years), or
bicentennial __NOTOC__ A bicentennial or bicentenary is the two-hundredth anniversary of a part, or the celebrations thereof. It may refer to: Europe * French Revolution bicentennial, commemorating the 200th anniversary of 14 July 1789 uprising, celebrated ...
(200 years). * They occur in constructed words such as systematic names. Systematic names use numerical prefixes derived from Greek, with one principal exception, nona-. * They occur as prefixes to units of measure in the SI system. See SI prefix. * They occur as prefixes to units of computer data. See binary prefixes. * They occur in words in the same languages as the original number word, and their respective derivatives. (Strictly speaking, some of the common citations of these occurrences are ''not'' in fact occurrences of the prefixes. For example: millennium is not formed from milli-, but is in fact derived from the same shared Latin root – mille.) Because of the common inheritance of Greek and Latin roots across the
Romance language The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fa ...
s, the import of much of that derived vocabulary into non-Romance languages (such as into English via
Norman French Norman or Norman French (, french: Normand, Guernésiais: , Jèrriais: ) is a Romance language which can be classified as one of the Oïl languages along with French, Picard and Walloon. The name "Norman French" is sometimes used to describe ...
), and the borrowing of 19th and 20th century coinages into many languages, the same numerical prefixes occur in many languages. Numerical prefixes are not restricted to denoting integers. Some of the SI prefixes denote negative powers of 10, i.e. division by a multiple of 10 rather than multiplication by it. Several common-use numerical prefixes denote vulgar fractions. Words containing non-technical numerical prefixes are usually not hyphenated. This is not an absolute rule, however, and there are exceptions (for example:
quarter-deck The quarterdeck is a raised deck behind the main mast of a sailing ship. Traditionally it was where the captain commanded his vessel and where the ship's colours were kept. This led to its use as the main ceremonial and reception area on bo ...
occurs in addition to quarterdeck). There are no exceptions for words comprising technical numerical prefixes, though. Systematic names and words comprising SI prefixes and binary prefixes are not hyphenated, by definition. Nonetheless, for clarity, dictionaries list numerical prefixes in hyphenated form, to distinguish the prefixes from words with the same spellings (such as duo- and
duo Duo may refer to: Places *Duo, West Virginia, an unincorporated community and coal town in Greenbrier County, West Virginia *Duo, Tampere, a shopping centre in Hervanta, Tampere, Finland * DUO, a twin-tower development in Singapore Arts, enterta ...
). Several technical numerical prefixes are not derived from words for numbers. (
mega- Mega is a unit prefix in metric systems of units denoting a factor of one million (106 or ). It has the unit symbol M. It was confirmed for use in the International System of Units (SI) in 1960. ''Mega'' comes from grc, μέγας, mégas, gr ...
is not derived from a number word, for example.) Similarly, some are only derived from words for numbers inasmuch as they are
word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...
. ( Peta- is word play on penta-, for example. See its etymology for details.) The root language of a numerical prefix need not be related to the root language of the word that it prefixes. Some words comprising numerical prefixes are hybrid words. In certain classes of systematic names, there are a few other exceptions to the rule of using Greek-derived numerical prefixes. The IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry, for example, uses the numerical prefixes derived from Greek, except for the prefix for 9 (as mentioned) and the prefixes from 1 to 4 (meth-, eth-, prop-, and but-), which are not derived from words for numbers. These prefixes were invented by the IUPAC, deriving them from the pre-existing names for several compounds that it was intended to preserve in the new system:
methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Ear ...
(via methyl, which is in turn from the Greek word for wine), ethane (from ethyl coined by Justus von Liebig in 1834), propane (from
propionic Propionic acid (, from the Greek words πρῶτος : ''prōtos'', meaning "first", and πίων : ''píōn'', meaning "fat"; also known as propanoic acid) is a naturally occurring carboxylic acid with chemical formula CH3CH2CO2H. It is a li ...
, which is in turn from pro- and the Greek word for fat), and butane (from butyl, which is in turn from
butyric Butyric acid (; from grc, βούτῡρον, meaning "butter"), also known under the systematic name butanoic acid, is a straight-chain alkyl carboxylic acid with the chemical formula CH3CH2CH2CO2H. It is an oily, colorless liquid with an unpl ...
, which is in turn from the Latin word for butter).


Cardinal Latin series

* unicycle, bicycle, tricycle, quadricycle * uniped, biped,
triped Tripedalism (from the Latin tri = three + ped = foot) is locomotion by the use of three limbs. It has been said that parrots ( Psittaciformes) display tripedalism during climbing gaits, which was tested and proven in a 2022 paper on the subject, m ...
, quadruped, centipede, millipede


Distributive Latin series

*unary, binary, trinary, quaternary, quinary, senary, … vicenary … centenary … *denarian, vicenarian, tricenarian, quadragenarian, quinquagenarian, sexagenarian, septuagenarian, octogenarian, nonagenarian, centenarian, … millenarian


Greek series

* monad, dyad,
triad Triad or triade may refer to: * a group of three Businesses and organisations * Triad (American fraternities), certain historic groupings of seminal college fraternities in North America * Triad (organized crime), a Chinese transnational orga ...
, tetrad, pentad, hexad, heptad, ogdoad, ennead, decad, ... triacontad, ... hecatontad, chiliad, myriad * digon, trigon, tetragon,
pentagon In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek language, Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is ...
,
hexagon In geometry, a hexagon (from Greek , , meaning "six", and , , meaning "corner, angle") is a six-sided polygon. The total of the internal angles of any simple (non-self-intersecting) hexagon is 720°. Regular hexagon A ''regular hexagon'' h ...
, heptagon, octagon, enneagon, decagon, hendecagon, dodecagon, ... enneadecagon,
icosagon In geometry, an icosagon or 20-gon is a twenty-sided polygon. The sum of any icosagon's interior angles is 3240 degrees. Regular icosagon The regular icosagon has Schläfli symbol , and can also be constructed as a truncated decagon, , or a t ...
, triacontagon, ... chiliagon, myriagon * trilogy, tetralogy, pentalogy,
hexalogy A hexalogy (from Greek ἑξα- ''hexa-'', "six" and -λογία ''-logia'', "discourse") is a compound literary or narrative work that is made up of six distinct works. The word apparently first appeared in English as a borrowing from German, in d ...
, heptalogy * monopod, dipod, tripod, tetrapod,
hexapod Hexapod may refer to: Things with six limbs, e.g. a hexapod chair would have six not the traditional four limbs Biology * Hexapoda, a subphylum of arthropods including the insects * Hexapodidae, a family of crabs Technology * Hexapod (robotics), ...
, octopod, decapod


Mixed language series

* pentane, hexane, heptane, octane, nonane, decane, undecane, ... icosane * binary,
ternary Ternary (from Latin ''ternarius'') or trinary is an adjective meaning "composed of three items". It can refer to: Mathematics and logic * Ternary numeral system, a base-3 counting system ** Balanced ternary, a positional numeral system, usef ...
, quaternary,
quinary Quinary (base-5 or pental) is a numeral system with five as the base. A possible origination of a quinary system is that there are five digits on either hand. In the quinary place system, five numerals, from 0 to 4, are used to represent a ...
,
senary A senary () numeral system (also known as base-6, heximal, or seximal) has 6, six as its radix, base. It has been adopted independently by a small number of cultures. Like decimal, it is a semiprime, though it is unique as the product of the only ...
,
septenary There are many different numeral systems, that is, writing systems for expressing numbers. By culture / time period By type of notation Numeral systems are classified here as to whether they use positional notation (also known as place-value ...
,
octal The octal numeral system, or oct for short, is the radix, base-8 number system, and uses the Numerical digit, digits 0 to 7. This is to say that 10octal represents eight and 100octal represents sixty-four. However, English, like most languages, ...
,
nonary A ternary numeral system (also called base 3 or trinary) has three as its base. Analogous to a bit, a ternary digit is a trit (trinary digit). One trit is equivalent to log2 3 (about 1.58496) bits of information. Although ''ternary'' ...
, decimal, duodecimal, hexadecimal,
vigesimal vigesimal () or base-20 (base-score) numeral system is based on twenty (in the same way in which the decimal numeral system is based on ten). '' Vigesimal'' is derived from the Latin adjective '' vicesimus'', meaning 'twentieth'. Places In ...
,
quadrovigesimal Positional notation (or place-value notation, or positional numeral system) usually denotes the extension to any base of the Hindu–Arabic numeral system (or decimal system). More generally, a positional system is a numeral system in which the ...
, duotrigesimal, sexagesimal, octogesimal


See also

* IUPAC numerical multiplier * List of numbers * List of numeral systems * List of commonly used taxonomic affixes * Numerals in English and other languages * Names for tuples of specific lengths


Notes


References


Bibliography

* * * * * {{refend Prefixes Numeral systems