number

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈnʌm.bə/ (UK); /ˈnʌm.bɚ/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

The noun is inherited from Middle English noumbre, nombre,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman noumbre, numbre, Old French nombre, and directly from Latin numerus (“a number, quantity”),^[2][4][5] from Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to assign, allot, distribute; to take”).^[4][6][7] Barnhart reconstructs an earlier Latin form *nomesos and gives as cognates Ancient Greek νέμειν (némein, “to distribute, manage”), Ancient Greek νόμος (nómos, “custom, law”) and Lithuanian núoma (“interest, lease”);^[8][9][10] Merriam-Webster and Partridge relate it to nimble.^[3][11] The verb is inherited from Middle English noumbren, from Old French nombrer, numbrer, from numerāre (“to count, reckon”), from numerus.^[2][4][3] The spelling with -b- (number, about 1475) replaced numbre.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The sum or aggregate of a collection of things or persons (1297 in the OED; before 1300 in Barnhart, in Arthour and Merlin).^[12][8][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “a sum of abstract units” is from the 14th century, and “a written symbol or figure of arithmetic value” from the late 14th century.^[12][4][13] The biblical Book of Numbers (about 1400) is so called because it begins with a census of the Israelites.^[4][9][12] From the late 15th century numbers meant “metrical sound, harmony”, and by the 1580s “poetry, verse”,^[4][13] as in Shakespeare's “And in fresh numbers number all your grace”.^[14] Number before a numeral (number six) dates from 1691,^[15] “a single issue of a magazine” from 1728 in the Historical Thesaurus (1795 in Etymonline),^[15][4] and number one “oneself” from about 1700.^[4][9] Your number is up is first recorded in 1804 (Etymonline gives 1806) in a letter of Charles Lamb, referring to a lottery;^[16][4] to have someone's number dates from 1853.^[4] A telephone number is recorded from 1879 and wrong number from 1886.^[4][15] The sense “an item in a musical programme” (1865 in the Historical Thesaurus, 1885 in Etymonline) comes from theatre programmes in which acts were numbered.^[15][4] The colloquial use for a person or a garment dates from 1894,^[4][15] and the numbers, an illegal lottery, is American from 1897.^[4] Merriam-Webster's Collegiate and the American Heritage Dictionary record the slang do a number on, “to treat harshly or deceive”.^[17][18]

Timeline

• 1297 – a sum or aggregate; verb, to count.^[12]
• c. 1300 – numbre.^[2]
• late 14th century – a written figure; verb, to assign a number to.^[4]
• c. 1400 – the Book of Numbers.^[4][12]
• c. 1475 – the spelling number.^[2]
• 1580s – numbers, poetry, verse.^[4]
• 1691 – before a numeral, as in number six.^[15]
• c. 1700 – number one, oneself.^[4][9]
• 1728 – an issue of a magazine.^[15]
• 1804 – your number is up.^[16]
• 1865 – an item in a musical programme.^[15]
• 1879 – a telephone number.^[4][15]
• 1894 – a person or thing; a garment.^[4][15]
• 1897 – the numbers, an illegal lottery (US).^[4]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. An arithmetical value expressed by a word, symbol or figure, representing a particular quantity; a numeral.
2. (mathematics) A member of the set of positive integers, or of the wider sets such as real numbers.
3. A numeral or series of numerals used for identification: a telephone number.
4. A total, quantity or amount, and in a number of, several.
5. (in the plural) A large quantity; numerical superiority.
6. A single issue of a magazine.
7. A song, dance or other item in a performance.
8. (informal) A person or thing, especially an item of clothing: a little black number.
9. (grammar) The distinction between singular and plural forms.
10. (archaic, in the plural) Metrical verse; poetry.

Verb

1. To assign a number to: number the pages.
2. To amount to in number; to total: the crew numbers 100.
3. To count, or include as part of a total: numbered among the guests.
4. To restrict in number: his days are numbered.

Word family

• numberer
• numberable

Related words

• numeral
• numerous
• enumerate
• numeric
• nimble

Usage notes

As a collective noun number may take a singular or a plural verb: the American Heritage Dictionary notes that it is singular after the (the number of skilled workers is small) and plural after a (a number of the workers are unskilled).^[17][19] Random House distinguishes number, the result of a count in which the units are considered as individuals, from sum, the result of an addition in which only the total matters.^[19]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
12. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
13. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
14. ^ Hendrickson, Robert (2008), The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins, 4th ed., New York: Facts on File
15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Kay, Christian; Roberts, Jane; Samuels, Michael; Wotherspoon, Irené, eds. (2009), Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press; online edition (2024)
16. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
17. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
18. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
19. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House