# numeral
## English
### Etymology

As an adjective, from Middle English numeral, numerall, from Latin numerālis (“pertaining to a number”), from numerus (“a number”).
As a noun, via Middle French numeral.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) enPR: nyo͞oʹm(ə)rəl, IPA: /ˈnjuːməɹəl/, /ˈnjuːmɹəl/
* (General American) enPR: no͞oʹm(ə)rəl, IPA: /ˈnuməɹəl/, /ˈnumɹəl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Hyphenation: nu‧mer‧al, num‧eral

### Noun

numeral (plural numerals)
* A symbol that is not a word and represents a number, such as the Arabic numerals 1, 2, 3 or the Roman numerals I, V, X, L.
* A representation of a number composed of such symbols.
** 1966, Robert Lee Morton, Modern Mathematics Through Discovery, page 97:Compare the numeral for the product with the original decimal numeral.
* (linguistics) A number word, a simple or compound word for a number often having particular grammatical attributes depending on the language.
    Hyponyms: cardinal numeral, ordinal numeral, distributive numeral, multiplicative numeral, multiplier, collective numeral
** 2002, Laurie Bauer, Rodney Huddleston, “Lexical word-formation”, in The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, page 1715:We use the term numeral for linguistic expressions and number for meanings. For example, five is a numeral expressing the number "5" - and fifteen hundred and one thousand five hundred are different numerals expressing the same number, "1,500".
* (card games) A card whose rank is a number (usually including the ace as 1).
    Jacks, queens, and kings are not numerals.

#### Quotations

* For quotations using this term, see Citations:numeral.

#### Derived terms

* Arabic numeral
* binary numeral system
* Chinese numeral
* Church numeral
* collective numeral
* Cyrillic numeral
* Devanagari numeral
* Greek numeral
* Hindu-Arabic numeral
* Hindu numeral
* Indo-Arabic numeral
* rod numeral
* Roman numeral
* Suzhou numeral

#### See also

* digit

### Adjective

numeral (not comparable)
* Of or relating to numbers; numerical.
** 1689 (indicated as 1690), [John Locke], An Essay Concerning Humane Understanding. […], London: […] Eliz[abeth] Holt, for Thomas Basset, […], →OCLC:A long train of numeral progressions.

#### Synonyms

* (of or relating to numbers): numeric; see also Thesaurus:numerical

#### Derived terms

* noun numeral
* numeral system

### References

* ↑ “numerāl, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “numeral, adj. and n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
* ↑ Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “numeral (n.)”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

### Further reading

* “numeral”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “numeral”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
* “numeral”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

## Galician
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /numeˈɾal/ [nũ.meˈɾɑɫ]
* Rhymes: -al
* Hyphenation: nu‧me‧ral

### Noun

numeral m (plural numerais)
* (grammar) numeral (word representing a number)

### Further reading

* “numeral”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2025

## Interlingua
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /numeˈral/

### Adjective

numeral
* numeral

### Noun

numeral
* numeral

## Middle French
### Adjective

numeral m (feminine singular numerale, masculine plural numeraux, feminine plural numerales)
* numeral; numerical
** 1474, author unknown, Mystere de l'Incarnation:Numerales proporcionsNumerical proportions

### References

* Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IX$^e$ au XV$^e$ siècle (1881) (numeral, supplement)

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Noun

numeral n (definite singular numeralet, indefinite plural numeral or numeraler, definite plural numerala or numeralene)
* numeral
    Synonym: tallord

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Noun

numeral n (definite singular numeralet, indefinite plural numeral, definite plural numerala)
* numeral
    Synonym: talord

## Piedmontese
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /nymeˈral/
* Rhymes: -al

### Adjective

numeral
* numeral

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin numerālis.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /nu.meˈɾaw/ [nu.meˈɾaʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /nu.mɨˈɾal/ [nu.mɨˈɾaɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /nu.mɨˈɾal/ [nu.mɨˈɾaɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /nu.mɨˈɾa.li/
* Rhymes: (Portugal) -al, (Brazil) -aw
* Hyphenation: nu‧me‧ral

### Adjective

numeral m or f (plural numerais, not comparable)
* numeral, numeric

### Noun

numeral m (plural numerais)
* (linguistics) numeral

## Romanian
### Etymology

Borrowed from French numeral, from Latin numeralis. By surface analysis, număr +‎ -al.

### Adjective

numeral m or n (feminine singular numerală, masculine plural numerali, feminine and neuter plural numerale)
* numeral

#### Declension
## Spanish
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /numeˈɾal/ [nu.meˈɾal]
* Rhymes: -al
* Syllabification: nu‧me‧ral

### Noun

numeral m (plural numerales)
* (linguistics) numeral

#### Derived terms

* nombre numeral

### Further reading

* “numeral”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10