Number Names in Different Languages

Reading Time: 4 minutes

“What’s in a name?” , Shakespeare’s Juliet famously asked. “That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet“, she reasoned.  Obviously, no one can contradict that logic – a rose is not gonna smell different if we were to rename it, nor would a skunk start emitting fragrances,  by being called a rose.

But what about number names? Do the names of numbers mean anything? Does the naming system have any significance or are they random sounds picked on a whim by our ancestors? To find out, first let us check out on number names in different languages from various regions.

Tabulating, we can compare the number names.

Language	Name for ten	Name for thirty	Name for thirty nine	Literal translation for ‘thirty nine’
Arabic	asarah	thalathin	tset wathalathin	Nine and thirty
Spanish	dieh	triente	Triente y neuve	Thirty and nine
Malay	sepuluh	Digah puluh	diga puluh sembilan	Thirty- nine
Japanese	juu	San juu	San juu kyu	Three tens and nine
Zulu	ishumi	Amashumi amathathu	Amashumi amathathu nesishiyagalilunye	Thirty- nine
Assamese	dos	tis	unchalis	One less than forty
Bangla	das	tris	unchalis	One less than forty
Hindi	das	tees	unchalis	One less than forty
Punjabi	das	tih	untih	One less than forty
Kannada	hattu	muvattu	muvattombattu	Three tens -nine
Tamil	pathu	mupathu	mupathonpadu	Three tens -nine
Telugu	padi	muppai	Muppai thommidi	Thirty nine
Malayalam	pathu	muppathu	Mupathi onpathu	Three tens -nine

Interesting, isn’t it? Some languages display an intrinsic knowledge of the base ten place value system, while some others seem to have just ‘named’ their numbers.  Even among those using the place value system, some have ‘number names’ for their tens (like Arabic) while in some others, even the tens resonate  their value (like in Japanese).

Reflecting, there is much to read into this beyond names. These names tell us about the cultures,  the level of understanding and advancement the ancient people of these cultures had reached with respect to Math. It also shows that even a universally uniform concept like Math, is perceived differently by  different people. Further, if your number name for say sixty four says it is six tens and four, the place value system is imbibed into your consciousness from the time you hear the language as a baby. Do native speakers of such languages fare better at Math? There are researchers who believe so, though much more work would be needed to come to such a conclusion.

For now, you could find out how more languages treat their numbers and number names – starting with languages spoken by your friends.

Number names 1 to 100

Here is the list of number names from 1 to 100:

Number	Number Name
1	One
2	Two
3	Three
4	Four
5	Five
6	Six
7	Seven
8	Eight
9	Nine
10	Ten
11	Eleven
12	Twelve
13	Thirteen
14	Fourteen
15	Fifteen
16	Sixteen
17	Seventeen
18	Eighteen
19	Nineteen
20	Twenty
21	Twenty - One
22	Twenty - Two
23	Twenty - Three
24	Twenty - Four
25	Twenty - Five
26	Twenty - Six
27	Twenty - Seven
28	Twenty - Eight
29	Twenty - Nine
30	Thirty
31	Thirty - One
32	Thirty - Two
33	Thirty - Three
34	Thirty - Four
35	Thirty - Five
36	Thirty - Six
37	Thirty - Seven
38	Thirty - Eight
39	Thirty - Nine
40	Fourty
41	Fourty - One
42	Fourty - Two
43	Fourty - Three
44	Fourty - Four
45	Fourty - Five
46	Fourty - Six
47	Fourty - Seven
48	Fourty - Eight
49	Fourty - Nine
50	Fifty
51	Fifty - One
52	Fifty - Two
53	Fifty - Three
54	Fifty - Four
55	Fifty - Five
56	Fifty - Six
57	Fifty - Seven
58	Fifty - Eight
59	Fifty - Nine
60	Sixty
61	Sixty - One
62	Sixty - Two
63	Sixty - Three
64	Sixty - Four
65	Sixty - Five
66	Sixty - Six
67	Sixty - Seven
68	Sixty - Eight
69	Sixty - Nine
70	Seventy
71	Seventy - One
72	Seventy - Two
73	Seventy - Three
74	Seventy - Four
75	Seventy - Five
76	Seventy - Six
77	Seventy - Seven
78	Seventy - Eight
79	Seventy - Nine
80	Eighty
81	Eighty - One
82	Eighty - Two
83	Eighty - Three
84	Eighty - Four
85	Eighty - Five
86	Eighty - Six
87	Eighty - Seven
88	Eighty - Eight
89	Eighty - Nine
90	Ninety
91	Ninety - One
92	Ninety - Two
93	Ninety - Three
94	Ninety - Four
95	Ninety - Five
96	Ninety - Six
97	Ninety - Seven
98	Ninety - Eight
99	Ninety - Nine
100	One Hundred

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