Phrase guide

cardinal number

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A number used to denote quantity; a counting number; a cardinal.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • The smallest cardinal numbers are 0, 1, 2, and 3.
  • The cardinal number “three” can be represented as “3” or “three”.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A generalized kind of number used to denote the size of a set, including infinite sets.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: mathematics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A word that expresses a countable quantity; a cardinal numeral.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: grammar, human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

Examples

  • “Three” is a cardinal number, while “third” is an ordinal number.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the number of elements in a mathematical set; denotes a quantity but not the order

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: cardinal

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: number

Narrower terms: frequency, absolute frequency, googol, googolplex

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

70 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Basque: zenbaki kardinal — number denoting quantity
  • Bengali: অঙ্কবাচক সংখ্যা (oṅkobacok śoṅkha) — number denoting quantity
  • Bulgarian: числително бройно (čislitelno brojno) — number denoting quantity
  • Catalan: nombre cardinal — number denoting quantity
  • Chinese Mandarin: 基數 /基数 (jīshù) — number denoting quantity
  • Danish: kardinaltal — number denoting quantity
  • Esperanto: kardinalo — number denoting quantity
  • Estonian: kardinaalarv — number denoting quantity
  • Faroese: grundtal — number denoting quantity
  • Finnish: kardinaaliluku — number denoting quantity
  • Finnish: perusluku — number denoting quantity
  • French: nombre cardinal — number denoting quantity
  • Galician: número cardinal — number denoting quantity
  • Georgian: რაოდენობითი რიცხვითი სახელი (raodenobiti ricxviti saxeli) — number denoting quantity
  • German: Kardinalzahl — number denoting quantity
  • German: Grundzahl — number denoting quantity
  • Greek: απόλυτος αριθμός (apólytos arithmós) — number denoting quantity
  • Hungarian: tőszám — number denoting quantity
  • Icelandic: fjöldatala — number denoting quantity
  • Icelandic: höfuðtala — number denoting quantity
  • Irish: bunuimhir — number denoting quantity
  • Italian: numero cardinale — number denoting quantity
  • Japanese: 基数 (kisū) — number denoting quantity
  • Korean: 기수 (gisu) — number denoting quantity
  • Latin: numerus cardinālis — number denoting quantity
  • Malay: nombor kardinal — number denoting quantity
  • Māori: tau maha — number denoting quantity
  • Polish: liczba kardynalna — number denoting quantity
  • Portuguese: número cardinal — number denoting quantity
  • Romanian: numeral cardinal — number denoting quantity
  • Romanian: număr cardinal — number denoting quantity
  • Russian: кардина́льное число́ (kardinálʹnoje čisló) — number denoting quantity
  • Spanish: número cardinal — number denoting quantity
  • Swedish: kardinaltal — number denoting quantity
  • Swedish: grundtal — number denoting quantity
  • Tagalog: bilang na paulat — number denoting quantity
  • Turkish: asıl sayı — number denoting quantity
  • Vietnamese: số đếm — number denoting quantity
  • Welsh: rhif prifol — number denoting quantity
  • Basque: zenbaki kardinal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Bulgarian: кардинално число (kardinalno čislo) — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Catalan: nombre cardinal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Czech: kardinální číslo — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Danish: kardinaltal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Estonian: hulga võimsus — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Finnish: kardinaaliluku — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Finnish: perusluku — number used to denote the size of a set
  • French: nombre cardinal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Galician: número cardinal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • German: Kardinalzahl — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Hungarian: kardinális szám — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Icelandic: fjöldatala — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Icelandic: höfuðtala — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Irish: bunuimhir — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Italian: numero cardinale — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Japanese: 集合数 (shūgōsū) — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Japanese: 基数 (kisū) — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Malay: nombor kardinal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Polish: liczba kardynalna — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Portuguese: número cardinal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Romanian: cardinal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Russian: мо́щность мно́жества (móščnostʹ mnóžestva) — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Russian: кардина́льное число́ (kardinálʹnoje čisló) — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Spanish: número cardinal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Swedish: kardinaltal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Swedish: grundtal — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Tagalog: bilang na paulat — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Turkish: asıl sayılar — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Vietnamese: số lượng — number used to denote the size of a set
  • Welsh: rhif prifol — number used to denote the size of a set