Numeral prefix

Numeral or number prefixes are prefixes derived from numerals or occasionally other numbers. In English and other European languages, they are used to coin numerous series of words, such as:

unicycle – bicycle – tricycle, dyad – triad – decade, biped – quadruped, September – October – November – December, decimal – hexadecimal, sexagenarian – octogenarian, centipede – millipede, etc.

There are two principal systems, taken from Latin and Greek, each with several subsystems; in addition, Sanskrit occupies a marginal position.[1] There is also an international set of metric prefixes, which are used in the metric system 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 numbers, 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 ​1⁄2 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.

NumberLatin prefixesGreek prefixes[lower-alpha 1]Sanskrit[1]
CardinalMultipleDistributiveOrdinalCardinalMultiple
Proportional
Quantitative		Ordinal
0nulli- –meden-, ouden- – –
​1⁄12unci- –For fractions, Greek uses ordinals (i.e. dodecato-) –
​1⁄8octant- – – –As above; ogdoö– –
​1⁄6sextant- – – –As above; hecto– –
​1⁄4quadrant- – – –As above; tetarto– –
​1⁄3trient- – – –As above; trito– –
​1⁄2semi- –demi-[2] –hemi- ("half")
e.g. hemisphere		 – – –
​3⁄4dodrant- – – – – –
1uni-
e.g. universe, unilateral		sim-[3]singul-prim-mono- ("one", "alone")
e.g. monogamy
holo- ("entire", "full")
e.g. holocaust, holography
hen-[4] rare		mono- ("one, alone")
hapax- ("once")
haplo-[4] ("single")
monad- ("one of a kind", "unique, "unit")		prot-[5]
e.g. proton, protozoa

protaio- ("[every] first day")

 eka-
​1 1⁄4 –quasqui-
e.g. quasquicentennial		 – – – – – –
​1 1⁄2 –sesqui-
e.g. sesquicentennial, sesquipedalian		 – – – – – –
2du-bi-, bis-
e.g. bireme, bilingual, bipolar, bipartisan		bin-second-di-, dy-,[6] duo-, dyo-dis-[7] ("twice") common
dyakis- ("twice") rare
diplo- ("double")
dyad- ("two of a
kind")		deuter-[8]
e.g. Deuteron/ium, Deuteronomy
deuteraio- ("[every] second day")		dvi-
3tri-
e.g. trireme		ter-tern-, trin-terti-tri-
e.g. triathlon, Tripolis		tris-[9] ("thrice") common
triakis- ("thrice") rare
triplo- ("triple")
triad- ("three of a kind")		trit-[10] ("third")
e.g. Triton/ium
tritaio- ("[every] third day")		 tri-
4quadri-, quadru-[11]quater-[12]quatern-[13]quart-[14]tetra-, tessara-tetrakis- ("four times")
tetraplo- ("quadruple")
tetrad- ("four of a kind")
e.g. tetrahedron		tetarto- ("fourth")
tetartaio-
("[every] fourth day")		chatur-
5quinque-[15] –quin-[16]quint-[17]penta-pentakis-
pentaplo-
pentad-
e.g. pentahedron		pempt-[18]
pemptaio-		pancha-
6sexa-[19] –sen-[20]sext-[21]hexa-[22]hexakis-
hexaplo-
hexad-
e.g. hexahedron		hect-[23]
hectaio-		shat-
7septem-, septi-septen-[24]septim-hepta-[25]
e.g. heptathlon		heptakis-
heptaplo-
heptad-		hebdomo- ("seventh")
hebdomaio- ("seventh day")
e.g. hebdomas		sapta-
8octo-
e.g. October		 –octon-[26]octav-[27]octo-
e.g. octopus		octakis-
octaplo-
octad-
e.g. octahedron		ogdoö-
ogdoaio-		ashta-
9novem-
e.g. November		noven-nona-ennea-[28]enneakis-
enneaplo-
ennead-		enat-[29]
enataio-		navam-
10decem-, dec-den-[30]decim-[31]deca-[32]
e.g. decathlon, Decapolis		decakis-
decaplo-
decad-
e.g. decahedron, decagon		decat-[33]
decataio-		dasham-
11undec-unden-[34]undecim-[35]hendeca-[36]hendeca/kis/plo/d-hendecat-[37]/o/aio-ekadasham-
12duodec-duoden-
e.g. duodenum		duodecim-dodeca-[38]
e.g. dodecadactylum		 dodeca/kis/plo/d-
e.g. dodecahedron		dodecat-[39]/o/aio-dvadasham-
13tredec-treden-tredecim-tria(kai)deca-, decatria-
e.g. triskaidekaphobia		tris(kai)decakis-,
decatria/kis/plo/d-		decatotrito-
etc.		trayodasham-
14quattuordec-quattuorden-quattuordecim-tessara(kai)deca-, decatettara-, decatessara-tetra(kai)decakis-,
decatetra/kis/plo/d-
e.g. tetradecahedron/decatetrahedron		decatotetarto-chaturdasham-
15quinquadec-, quindec-[40]quinden-[41]quindecim-[42]pente(kai)deca-, decapente-penta(kai)decakis-,
decapentakis- etc.		decatopempto-panchadasham-
16sedec-,[43] sexdec-

(but hybrid hexadecimal)

 seden-sedecim-hexa(kai)deca-,
hekkaideca-,
decahex-		hexa(kai)decakis-,
decahexakis- etc.		decatohecto-shodasham-
17septendec-septenden-septendecim-hepta(kai)deca-,
decahepta-		hepta(kai)decakis-,
decaheptakis- etc.		decatohebdomo-saptadasham-
18octodec-octoden-octodecim-octo(kai)deca-,
decaocto-		octa(kai)decakis-,
decaoctakis- etc.		decatoogdoö-ashtadasham-
19novemdec-, novendec-novemden-novemdecim-ennea(kai)deca-, decaennea-ennea(kai)decakis-,
decaenneakis- etc.		decatoenato-navadasham-
20[lower-alpha 2]viginti-vicen-, vigen-vigesim-(e)icosi-eicosa/kis/plo/d-
e.g. (e)icosahedron		eicosto-vimshati-
22duovigint-(e)icosidyo-, dyo(e)icosi- rare
e.g. docosa-hexaenoic acid (a pejoration of dyoicosa-hexanoic)		(e)icosidyakis-
(e)icosidiplo-
(e)icosidyad-		eicostodeutero- –
24quattuorvigint-(e)icositettara-, (e)icosikaitettara-
rare		(e)icositetrakis-
(e)icositetraplo-
(e)icositetrad-
e.g. (e)icositetragon		eicostotetarto-chaturvimshati-
25quinvigint-(e)icosipente-
e.g. eicosapenta-enoic acid		(e)icosipentakis-
(e)icosipentaplo-
(e)icosipentad-		eicostopempto- –
30triginti-tricen-trigesim-triaconta-triacontakis- etc.
e.g. triacontahedron		triacosto-trimshat-
31untriginti-triacontahen-triacontahenakis-
triacontahenaplo-
triacontahenad-		triacostoproto-
triacostoprotaio-		 –
40quadraginti-quadragen-quadragesim-tettaraconta-,
tessaraconta-		tettaracontakis-,
tessaracontakis- etc.		tessaracosto-chatvarimshat-
50quinquaginti-[44]quinquagen-[45]quinquagesim-[46]penteconta-
e.g. penteconter		pentecontakis- etc.pentecosto-
e.g. pentecost		panchashat-
60sexaginti-sexagen-sexagesim-hexeconta-hexecontakis- etc.hexecosto-shasti-
70septuaginti-
e.g. Septuagint		septuagen-septuagesim-[47]hebdomeconta-hebdomecontakis- etc.hebdomecosto-saptati-
80octogint-octogen-octogesim-ogdoëconta-ogdoëcontakis- etc.ogdoëcosto-ashiti-
90nonagint-nonagen-nonagesim-eneneconta-enenecontakis- etc.enenecosto-navati-
100centi-centen-centesim-hecato(n)-hecatontakis-
hundred times
hecatontaplo-
hundred-multiple
hecatontad-
hundred of a kind
also abbreviated in
hec[aton]tad-		hecatosto-
hundredth
hecatostaio-
the hundredth day		shata–
120viginticenti- – –hecaton(e)icosi-hecaton(e)icosakis- etc.hecatostoeicosto- –
200ducenti-ducen-, bicenten-ducentesim-diacosia-diacosakis- etc.diacosiosto- –
300trecenti-trecen-, tercenten-, tricenten-trecentesim-triacosia- etc.triacosakis-
triacosaplo-
triacosad-		triacosiosto- –
400quadringenti-quadringen-, quatercenten-, quadricenten-quadringentesim-tetracosia-tetracosakis- etc.tetracosiosto- –
500quingent-,[48] quincent-[49]quingen-,[50] quingenten-, quincenten-quingentesim-[51]pentacosia-pentacosakis- etc.pentacosiosto- –
600sescenti-, sexcenti-sescen-, sexcenten-sescentesim-hexacosia-hexacosakis- etc.hexacosiosto- –
700septingenti-septingen-, septingenten-, septcenten-septingentesim-heptacosia-heptacosakis- etc.heptacosiosto- –
800octingenti-octingen-, octingenten-, octocenten-octingentesim-octacosia-octacosakis- etc.octacosiosto- –
900nongenti-nongen-nongentesim-ennacosi-[52]
derived from
en(n)iacosia-,
a pejoration of
enneacosia-		enneacosakis- etc.enacosiost-,[53]
alt. spelling
en(n)iacosiost(o)-
a pejoration of
enneacosiosto-		 –
1000milli-millen-millesim-chili-,[54] kilo-chiliakis-
chiliaplo-
chiliad-		chiliost-[55]sahasra–
2000duomilli –- –dischili-[56]dischiliakis- etc.dischiliosto- –
3000tremilli-trischili-[57] –trischiliost-[58] –
5000quinmilli–pentacischili-[59] – – –
10000decamilli–myria-,[60] decakischilia-
e.g. myriapoda		myriakis-
myriaplo-
myriad-
decakischiliakis- etc.		myriast-,[61]
decakischiliosto-		ayuta–
80000octogintmilli–octacismyri-[62] – – –
105centimilli–decakismyria-, hecatontakis chilia-decakismyriakis-,
hecatontakis
chiliakis-		etc.laksha–
106million- –hecatommyria-hecatommyriakis-
("a million times")
hecatommyriaplo-
(million-multiple)
hecatommyriad-
(a million of a kind)		hecatommyriosto-
(ranked millionth;
also one piece of
a million [fraction] see above in
fractions)
hecatommyriostaio-
("the millionth day")		 –
109billion- –dis
hecatommyria-		dis
hecatommyriakis-		etc. –
1012trillion- –tris
hecatommyria-		tris
hecatommyriakis-		etc. –
1015quadrillion- –tetrakis
hecatommyria-		tetrakis
hecatommyriakis-		etc. –
1018quintillion- – – – – –
1021sextillion- – – – – –
1024septillion- – – – – –
1027octillion- – – – – –
1030nonillion- – – – – –
1033decillion- –decakis
hecatommyria-		decakis
hecatommyriakis-		etc. –
10303centillion- –hecatontakis
hecatommyria-		hecatontakis
hecatommyriakis-		etc. –
103003 –chiliakis
hecatommyria-		chiliakis
hecatommyriakis-		etc. –
1030003 –myriakis
hecatommyria-		myriakis
hecatommyriakis-		etc. –
10300003 –decakismyriakis
hecatommyria- and so on -
virtually endless		decakismyriakis
hecatommyriakis-		etc. –
Few
(1–20)		pauci-
e.g. pauciparous		 –oligo-
e.g. oligomer, oligonucleotide, oligopeptide, oligosaccharide, oligopoly		 – – –
Many
(> 1)		multi-, pluri-
e.g. multilingual, multiple, pluripotent, pluricentric		 –poly-
e.g. polyhedra, polygamy, polypod, polyglot, polymath		pollakis- (many times)
pollaplo- (multiple)
plethos- (many of a kind)
e.g. plethora		pollosto-
(rank/order of many [manieth])		bahut–
  1. The numbering adjectives in Greek are inflectional for grammatical gender (i.e. there is monos [masculine for single/alone], mone [feminine for single/alone] and monon [neuter for single/alone]), grammatical case (i.e. nominative, genitive, etc.) and grammatical number (singular/plural). The prefixes are produced from the default grammatical type (masculine/nominative/singular).
  2. For Latinate 21, 22, etc., the pattern for the teens is followed: unvigint-, duovigint-, etc. For higher numbers, the reverse order may be found: 36 is trigintisex-. For Greek, the word kai ("and") is used: icosikaihena-, icosikaidi-, pentacontakaipenta-, etc. In these and in the tens, the kai is frequently omitted, though not in triskaidekaphobia. (The inconsistency of triskaidekaphobia with the table above is explained by the fact that the Greek letter kappa can be transliterated either "c" or "k".) In chemical nomenclature, 11 is generally mixed Latin-Greek undeca-, and the 20s are based on -cos-, for example tricos- for 23.

The same suffix may be used with more than one series:

primarysecondarytertiaryquartaryquintarysextary——nonary—
singularybinaryternary, trinaryquaternaryquinarysenaryseptenaryoctonarynovenarydenary

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, such as sesquicentennial (150 years), centennial (100 years), or bicentennial (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 languages, the import of much of that derived vocabulary into non-Romance languages (such as into English via Norman French), 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 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).

Several technical numerical prefixes are not derived from words for numbers. (mega- is not derived from a number word, for example.) Similarly, some are only derived from words for numbers inasmuch as they are word play. (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 (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, which is in turn from pro- and the Greek word for fat), and butane (from butyl, which is in turn from butyric, which is in turn from the Latin word for butter).

Cardinal Latin series

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

Greek series

Mixed language series
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See also

Notes
  1. See Mendeleev's predicted elements for the most common use of Sanskrit numerical prefixes.
  2. Demi- is French, from Latin dimidium.
  3. sim- (sin-) is found in the words simplex, simple.
  4. The Greek prefix for 'one' is normally mono- 'alone'. Hen- 'one' is only used in compound numbers (hendeka- 11) and a few words like henad (= monad). Haplo- 'single' is found is a few technical words such as haploid.
  5. πρῶτος. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project
  6. δύο
  7. δίς
  8. δεύτερος
  9. τρίς
  10. τρίτος
  11. The forms related to quattuor "four", like the previous three integers, are irregular in Latin and other Indo-European languages, and the details, while presumably a form of assimilation, are unclear. Andrew Sihler, New comparative grammar of Greek and Latin, p. 412, and Carl Darling Buck, Comparative grammar of Greek and Latin. In particular, quadri- has the alternate form quadru- before p in some Latin words, such as quadruple.
  12. "quăter". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  13. "quăterni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  14. "quartus". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  15. "quinque". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  16. "quīni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  17. "quintus". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  18. πέμπτος
  19. Sometimes Greek hexa- is used in Latin compounds, such as hexadecimal, due to taboo avoidance with the English word sex.
  20. "sēni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  21. "sextus". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  22. ἕξ
  23. ἕκτος
  24. "septēni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  25. ἑπτά
  26. "octōni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  27. "octāvus". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  28. ἐννέα
  29. ἔνατος
  30. "dēni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  31. "dĕcĭmus". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  32. δέκα
  33. δέκατος
  34. "undēni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  35. "undĕcĭmus". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  36. ἕνδεκα
  37. ἑνδέκατος
  38. δώδεκα
  39. δωδέκατος
  40. "quindĕcim". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  41. "quindēni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  42. "quindĕcĭmus". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  43. "sēdĕcim". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  44. "quinquāginta". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  45. "quinquāgēni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  46. "quinquāgēsĭmus". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  47. "Charlton T. Lewis, Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, S , septĭfārĭam , septŭāgēsimus". www.perseus.tufts.edu. Retrieved 26 February 2019.
  48. "quingenti". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  49. "quincenti". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  50. "quingēni". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  51. "quingentēsĭmus". Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  52. ἐννακόσιοι
  53. ἐνακοσιοστός
  54. χίλιοι
  55. χιλιοστός
  56. δισχίλιοι
  57. τρισχίλιοι
  58. τρισχιλιοστός
  59. πεντακισχίλιοι
  60. μυρίος
  61. μυριαστός
  62. ὀκτακισμύριοι
  63. In organic chemistry, most prefixes are Greek but the prefixes for 9 and 11 are Latin.

References

Further reading
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