Numerical prefixes are
prefixA prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Particularly in the study of Semitic languages, a prefix is called a preformative, as they can alter the form of the words to which they are fixed.Examples of prefixes:...
es usually derived from the words for numbers in various languages, most commonly
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
and
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, although this is not always the case.
- 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.
- They occur in constructed words such as systematic name
The existence of non-standard common names in different languages for entities studied by the scientific communities and the overloading of a single name to describe different entities from a same field of study makes scientific communication harder and causes unproductive name disputes...
s.
Numerical prefixes are
prefixA prefix is an affix which is placed before the stem of a word. Particularly in the study of Semitic languages, a prefix is called a preformative, as they can alter the form of the words to which they are fixed.Examples of prefixes:...
es usually derived from the words for numbers in various languages, most commonly
GreekGreek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
and
LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
, although this is not always the case.
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.
- They occur in constructed words such as systematic name
The existence of non-standard common names in different languages for entities studied by the scientific communities and the overloading of a single name to describe different entities from a same field of study makes scientific communication harder and causes unproductive name disputes...
s. Systematic names use numerical prefixes derived from Greek, with one principal exception, nona-.
- They occur as prefixes to units of measure in the SI
Si, si, or SI may refer to :- Places :* Mount Si, a mountain in state of Washington* Si County, county in Anhui, China* Si River, a river in China* Slovenia, a European nation Si, si, or SI may refer to (all SI unless otherwise stated):- Places :* Mount Si, a mountain in state of Washington* Si...
system. See SI prefixAn SI prefix is a name or associated symbol that precedes a basic unit of measure to form a decimal multiple or submultiple. The abbreviation SI is from the French language name Système International d’Unités...
.
- 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
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
via
Norman FrenchNorman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. Norman can be classified in the northern Oïl languages with Picard and Walloon. The name Norman-French is sometimes used to describe not only the modern Norman language, but also the administrative languages of Anglo-Norman and Law 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 comprising 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 nameThe existence of non-standard common names in different languages for entities studied by the scientific communities and the overloading of a single name to describe different entities from a same field of study makes scientific communication harder and causes unproductive name disputes...
s and words comprising
SI prefixAn SI prefix is a name or associated symbol that precedes a basic unit of measure to form a decimal multiple or submultiple. The abbreviation SI is from the French language name Système International d’Unités...
es and
binary prefixIn computing, a binary prefix is a set of letters that precede a unit of digital quantity to indicate multiplication by a power of two....
es 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 playFor the rapper see WordplayWord play is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work. Puns, phonetic mix-ups such as spoonerisms, obscure words and meanings, clever rhetorical excursions, oddly formed sentences, and telling character names are common...
. (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 wordA hybrid word is a word which etymologically has one part derived from one language and another part derived from a different language.-Common hybrids:The most common form of hybrid word in English is one which combines etymologically Latin and Greek parts...
s.
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 chemistryThe IUPAC nomenclature of organic chemistry is a systematic method of naming organic chemical compounds as recommended by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry . Ideally, every organic compound should have a name from which an unambiguous structural formula can be drawn. There is...
, 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 LiebigJustus von Liebig was a German chemist who made major contributions to agricultural and biological chemistry, and worked on the organization of organic chemistry. As a professor, he devised the modern laboratory-oriented teaching method, and for such innovations, he is regarded as one of the...
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).
Table of non-technical numeric prefixes
- This also includes the technical numeric prefixes used for systematic name
The existence of non-standard common names in different languages for entities studied by the scientific communities and the overloading of a single name to describe different entities from a same field of study makes scientific communication harder and causes unproductive name disputes...
s. For tables of other technical numeric prefixes, see SI prefixAn SI prefix is a name or associated symbol that precedes a basic unit of measure to form a decimal multiple or submultiple. The abbreviation SI is from the French language name Système International d’Unités...
es and binary prefixIn computing, a binary prefix is a set of letters that precede a unit of digital quantity to indicate multiplication by a power of two....
es.
| Number |
Derived from number words in |
English English is a West Germanic language that developed in England during the Anglo-Saxon era. As a result of the military, economic, scientific, political, and cultural influence of the British Empire during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries, and of the United States since the mid 20th century,...
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| Greek Greek , an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, is the language of the Greeks. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. In its ancient form, it is the language of classical...
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LatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Roman conquest, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe...
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Old English Old English , also called Anglo-Saxon, is an early form of the English language that was spoken and written in parts of what are now England and south-eastern Scotland between at least the mid-5th century and the mid-12th century. What survives through writing represents primarily the literary...
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|
| 0 |
a-/an- |
in- |
|
|
| ¼ |
|
|
|
|
quarter- |
| ½ |
hemi- |
semi-/demi- |
|
|
half- |
| 1 |
| uni- |
|
eka- |
one- |
| 1¼ |
|
quasqui- |
|
|
one and a quarter- |
| 1½ |
|
sesqui- |
|
|
one and a half- |
| 2 |
di- |
duo-/bi- |
twi- |
dvi- |
two- |
| 3 |
tri- |
tre-/ter- |
thri- |
tri- |
three- |
| 4 |
tetra-/tetr- |
quadri-/quadr- |
|
chatur- |
|
| 5 |
penta-/pent- |
quinque-/quinqu- |
|
panch- |
|
| 6 |
hexa-/hex- |
| |
shat- |
|
| 7 |
hepta-/hept- |
septua- |
|
sapta- |
|
| 8 |
octa-/octo-/oct- |
|
ashta- |
|
| 9 |
ennea- |
nona-/non- |
|
navam- |
|
| 10 |
deka-/deca- |
deci- |
|
dasham- |
|
| 11 |
hendeca- |
undec- |
|
ekadasham- |
|
| 12 |
dodeca- |
duodec- |
|
dvadasham- |
|
| 13 |
triskaideka- |
tridec- |
|
trayodasham- |
|
| 14 |
tetradeca- |
quattuordec- |
|
chaturdasham- |
|
| 15 |
pentadeca- |
quindec- |
|
panchadasham- |
|
| 16 |
hexadeca- |
sedec- |
|
|
|
| 20 |
icosa- |
vigen- |
|
|
|
| 100 |
hecto-/hect- |
centi- |
|
|
|
| 1000 |
chilia-/kilo- |
milli- |
|
sahastram- |
|
| 10000 |
myria- |
|
|
dashsahastram- |
|
| Any no. > 1 |
poly- |
multi- |
|
|
|