Phrase guide

hundreds and thousands

noun · 2 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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌhʌndɹəds n̩ ˈθaʊz(ə)ndz/
  • General-American: /ˌhʌndɹəds n̩ ˈθaʊz(ə)n(d)z/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An indefinite but emphatically large number.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural, plural-only

Examples

  • 1864 September 12, W. T. Sherman, letter to James M. Calhoun, E. E. Rawson and S. C. Wells, representing City Council of Atlanta, published in 1865, Joel Tyler Headley, Grant and Sherman: Their Campaigns and Generals, 2008, page 592, I myself have seen in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi, hundreds and thousands of women and children fleeing from your armies and desperadoes, hungry, and with bleeding feet.
  • 1949, A.S. Altekar, State and Government in Ancient India, reprinted 2001, page 148, It is clear that the sentence rather refers to numerous favours conferred upon the city and country population, the monetary value of which amounted to hundreds and thousands of rupees or contemporary coins.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

Tiny balls or strands of multicoloured sugar, sprinkled over ice cream, desserts or party foods.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, plural, plural-only

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: nonpareil, nonpareils, sprinkles, hundreds and thousands, jimmies, spreckles, sugar strands

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

PIE word *ḱm̥tóm From hundreds + and + thousands. Sense 2 (“tiny balls or strands of multicoloured sugar”) is from the fact that the confectionery is made up of numerous sugar pieces.

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: honderde duisende — indefinite but emphatically large number
  • Arabic: آلافٌ مُؤَلَّفَة (ʔālāfun muʔallafa) — indefinite but emphatically large number
  • Italian: centinaia di migliaia — indefinite but emphatically large number