numeral

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English numeral,^[2] borrowed from Late Latin numerālis (“expressing a number; of or belonging to a number”),^[3][4][5][6] a word used by Priscian in the 5th–6th century,^[3] formed from numerus (“a number”) and the suffix -ālis.^[3][7] The Latin noun is the source of number,^[8][5] and Etymonline traces it to Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to assign, allot; to take”).^[8] Etymonline takes the English noun through French numéral,^[8] and Klein and Merriam-Webster Unabridged take the word through Middle French;^[9][10] the OED only compares the French form, recorded from 1475.^[3] Barnhart derives the noun from the adjective.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of or expressing a number: before 1398, in Trevisa's translation of Bartholomaeus Anglicus, where the phrase numeral figure is a written character for a number.^[3][2][4] Etymonline dates the adjective to the late 14th century.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word began as a learned adjective, and by about 1475 it could also mean simply "belonging to a number", as in numerall proporcioun.^[3] The noun followed in 1530, in Palsgrave's French grammar, first for a word that expresses a number;^[3][4] Etymonline puts this in the 1520s and Dictionary.com dates the word 1520–30.^[8][7] The now usual sense, a figure or character standing for a number, is dated by the revised OED to 1654,^[3] ahead of the 1686 of Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged and the 1680s of Etymonline.^[4][10][8] Johnson (1755) entered the word only as an adjective, "relating to number; consisting of number".^[11] Rare uses that did not last were a line of verse (1605), "measured, rhythmic" (1610) and a church calendar of canonical hours (1853).^[3] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also records numerals for the figures of a school or college class's year, which could be won in sports.^[10] Etymonline adds that Old English numbers above twenty were built as in modern German, like seofan and twentig, and thinks the modern order is probably due to French influence.^[8]

Timeline

• before 1398 – adjective, expressing a number, as in numeral figure.^[3][2][4]
• c. 1475 – adjective, belonging to a number.^[3]
• 1530 – noun, a word expressing a number.^[3][4] Etymonline has the 1520s.^[8]
• 1605 – a line of verse (obsolete).^[3]
• 1610 – adjective, measured, rhythmic (obsolete).^[3]
• 1654 – a figure or character standing for a number.^[3] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster Unabridged have 1686.^[4][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A symbol or group of symbols that stands for a number, such as 7 or VII: The clock tower has Roman numerals on its face.^[12][10][3]
2. A word that expresses a number, such as seven.^[3][4]
3. In the plural, the figures of the year of a school or college class, sometimes awarded for success in sports.^[10]

Adjective

1. Of, relating to or expressing a number or numbers.^[12][10][3]
2. Consisting of numbers or numerals: a numeral code.^[12][10]

Word family

• numerally
• nonnumeral
• Arabic numeral
• Roman numeral

Related words

• number
• numerous
• numerate
• numerical
• numerator
• enumerate
• innumerable
• nimble

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins