English numerals

English numerals are words for numbers used in English-speaking cultures.

Cardinal Numbers

Cardinal numbers refer to the size of a group.

0	zero (nought)
1	one
2	two
3	three
4	four
5	five
6	six
7	seven
8	eight
9	nine

If a number is in the range 21 to 99, and the second digit is not zero, one typically writes the number as two words separated by a hyphen. 21:twenty-one

In some areas, a point (. or ·) may also be used as a thousands' separator, but then, the decimal separator must be a comma.

Specialized numbers

A few numbers have special names (in addition to their regular names):

0: has several other names, depending on context:

o    zero: formal scientific usage

o    naught / nought: mostly British usage

o    aught: Mostly archaic but still occasionally used when a digit in mid-number is 0 (as in "thirty-aught-six", the .30-06 Springfield rifle cartridge and by association guns that fire it)

o    oh: used when spelling numbers (like telephone, bank account, bus line)

o    nil: in general sport scores, British usage ("The score is two-nil.")

o    nothing: in general sport scores, American usage ("The score is two to nothing.")

o    null: used technically to refer to an object or idea related to nothingness. The 0th aleph number () is pronounced "aleph-null".

o    love: in tennis, badminton, squash and similar sports (origin disputed, often said to come from French l'œuf, "egg"; but the Oxford English Dictionary mentions the phrase for love, meaning nothing is at risk)

• zilch, nada (from Spanish), zip: used informally when stressing nothingness; this is true especially in combination with one another ("You know nothing—zero, zip, nada, zilch!")
• nix: also used as a verb
• cypher / cipher: archaic, from French chiffre, in turn from Arabic sifr, meaning zero

• 1–0    British English: one nil; American English: one-nothing, one-zip, or one-zero
• 0–0    British English: nil-nil, or nil all; American English: zero-zero or nothing-nothing, (occasionally scoreless or no score)
• 2–2    two-two or two all; American English also twos, two to two, even at two, or two up.)

Naming conventions of Tennis scores (and related sports) are different than other sports.

Multiplicative numerals A few numbers have specialised multiplicative numerals expresses how many fold or how many times^[3]:

one time	once
two times	twice
three times	thrice

Negative numbers

The name of a negative number is the name of the corresponding positive number preceded by "minus" or (American English) "negative". Thus -5.2 is "minus five point two" or "negative five point two". For temperatures, Americans colloquially say "below" —short for "below zero"— so a temperature of -5 ° is "five below".

Ordinal numbers

Ordinal numbers refer to a position in a series. Common ordinals include:

0th	zeroth or noughth (see below)
1st	first
2nd	second
3rd	third
4th	fourth
5th	fifth
6th	sixth
7th	seventh
8th	eighth (only one "t")
9th	ninth (no "e")

Zeroth only has a meaning when counts start with zero, which happens in a mathematical or computer science context.

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

Higher ordinals are not often written in words, unless they are round numbers (thousandth, millionth, billionth). 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 occasionally written superscript above the number itself.

·         If the tens digit of a number is 1, then write "th" after the number. For example: 13th, 19th, 112th, 9,311th.

·         If the tens digit is not equal to 1, then use the following table:

If the units 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: 2nd, 7th, 20th, 23rd, 52nd, 135th, 301st.

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 the legal field and in some older publications, the ordinal abbreviation for "second" and "third" is simply, "d".

• For example: 42d, 33d, 23d

NB: The practice of using "d" to denote "second" and "third" is still often followed in the numeric designations of units in the US armed forces, for example, 533d Squadron. Any ordinal name that doesn't end in "first", "second", or "third", ends in "th".

Dates

Year	Most common pronunciation method	Alternative methods
1 BC	(The year) One Before Christ (BC)	1 before the Common era (BCE)
1	(The year) One	Anno Domini (AD) 1 1 of the Common era (CE) In the year of Our Lord 1
235	Two thirty-five	Two-three-five Two hundred (and) thirty-five
911	Nine eleven	Nine-one-one Nine hundred (and) eleven
999	Nine ninety-nine	Nine-nine-nine Nine hundred (and) ninety-nine Triple nine
1000	One thousand	Ten hundred 1K Ten aught Ten oh
1004	One thousand (and) four	Ten oh-four
1010	Ten ten	One thousand (and) ten
1050	Ten fifty	One thousand (and) fifty
1225	Twelve twenty-five	One-two-two-five One thousand, two hundred (and) twenty-five Twelve-two-five
1900	Nineteen hundred	One thousand, nine hundred Nineteen aught
1901	Nineteen oh-one	Nineteen hundred (and) one One thousand, nine hundred (and) one Nineteen aught one
1919	Nineteen nineteen	Nineteen hundred (and) nineteen One thousand, nine hundred (and) nineteen
1999	Nineteen ninety-nine	Nineteen hundred (and) ninety-nine One thousand, nine hundred (and) ninety-nine
2000	Two thousand	Twenty hundred Two triple-oh
2001	Two thousand (and) one	Twenty oh-one Twenty hundred (and) one Two double-oh-one Two oh-oh-one
2009	Two thousand (and) nine	Twenty oh-nine Twenty hundred (and) nine Two double-oh-nine Two oh-oh-nine
2010	Two thousand (and) ten Twenty ten	Twenty hundred (and) ten two-oh-one-oh

Fractions and decimals

In spoken English, ordinal numbers are also used to quantify the denominator of a fraction. Thus 'fifth' can mean the element between fourth and sixth, or the fraction created by dividing the unit into five pieces. In this usage, the ordinal numbers can be pluralized: one seventh, two sevenths. The sole exception to this rule is division by two. The ordinal term 'second' can only refer to location in a series; for fractions English speakers use the term 'half' (plural 'halves'). Here are some common fractions (partitive numerals^[4]):

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 (mainly American English) 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

o    0.002 is "two thousandths" (mainly U.S.); or "point zero zero two", "point oh oh two", "nought point zero zero two", etc.

o    3.1416 is "three point one four one six"

o    99.3 is "ninety-nine and three tenths" (mainly U.S.); or "ninety-nine point three".

·         Fractions together with an integer are read as follows:

o    1 1/2 is "one and a half"

o    6 1/4 is "six and a quarter"

o    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, e.g.

o    9 1/2

o    9½