Categories of numerals
How many categories of numerals are there, and what are their functions? This post helps sort out the ways you can refer to numbers and under which circumstances, with nary a digit or operational sign in sight. Ready? One, two, three . . . 1. Cardinal Numbers Cardinal numbers — one, two, three, or the numeric equivalents, and so on — represent simple quantity (though, as shown in the previous paragraph, they can also be employed in a countdown — or, in that case, a count-up). The names of English numerals are all derived from Old English, as are the suffixes -teen, which derives from a form of ten and means "ten more than," and -ty, which means "ten." Hundred and thousand are also derived from old English, but million and other terms for orders of magnitude come from Latin by way of French. 2. Collective Numerals Collective numerals represent sets. There are various subcategories — kinship terms such as twin and triplet, and musical terms like duo and tri...