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Added 5 October 2026

number

/ˈnʌmbər/ noun

In Latin: numerus Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about number at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Quantity of countable things.
Any number of people can be reading from a given repository at a time.
An abstract entity used to describe quantity.
Zero, one, −1, 2.5, and pi are all numbers.
A numeral: a symbol for a non-negative integer.
The number 8 is usually made with a single stroke.

verb

To total or count; to amount to.
I don’t know how many books are in the library, but they must number in the thousands.
To limit to a certain number; to reckon (as by fate) to be few in number.
The old man knew that his days were numbered.
To count; to determine the quantity of.
The king ordered that all his subjects be numbered.

adjective

comparative form of numb: more numb

noun

Something that numbs.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English number, nombre, numbre, noumbre, from Anglo-Norman noumbre, Old French nombre, from Latin numerus (“number”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to distribute, to give, to take”). Compare Saterland Frisian Nummer, Nuumer, West Frisian nûmer, Dutch nummer (“number”), German Nummer (“number”), Danish nummer (“number”), Swedish nummer (“number”), Icelandic númer (“number”). Displaced Middle English ȝetæl and rime; more at tell, tale and rhyme. Distantly related (via Proto-Indo-European) to obsolete English nim (“to take, seize”) and its Germanic cognates (e.g. German nehmen), hence also to numb.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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