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numeral

nu·mer·al/ˈnuməɹəl/noun, adjective

numeral is spelled N-U-M-E-R-A-L: 7 letters and 3 syllables (nu·mer·al). It appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,416th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, numeral means “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” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of numeral is numerals.

How many letters and syllables are in numeral?

Letters7: N-U-M-E-R-A-L
Syllables3: nu·mer·al
In writingabout once in every 2 million words; the 38,416th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How common is numeral?

Numeral appears about once in every 2 million words in written English, the 38,416th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce numeral?

  • UK /ˈnjuːməɹəl/
  • UK /ˈnjuːmɹəl/
  • US /ˈnuməɹəl/

Numeral has 3 syllables, split nu·mer·al in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-numeral.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Forms of numeral

  • numerals plural

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does numeral mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    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.

  2. 2

    A representation of a number composed of such symbols.

  3. 3

    A number word, a simple or compound word for a number often having particular grammatical attributes depending on the language.

  4. 4

    A card whose rank is a number (usually including the ace as 1).

    Jacks, queens, and kings are not numerals.

adjective

  1. 1

    Of or relating to numbers; numerical.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

How do you abbreviate numeral?

Wiktionary records one abbreviation of numeral: num.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Numeral in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchchiffre (non-word symbol that represents a number)
GermanZahl, Ziffer, Zahlzeichen (non-word symbol that represents a number), Numerale, Zahlwort (word or symbol representing a number – see also…)
Spanishnúmero, cifra, guarismo (non-word symbol that represents a number), letra numeral (word or symbol representing a number – see also…), numeral (numerical)
Portuguesenúmero, numeral (word or symbol representing a number – see also…)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does numeral come from?

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.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after numeral