Standard Lemma guide

numeral

adj · noun · 7 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: nyo͞oʹm(ə)rəl
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈnjuːməɹəl/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈnjuːmɹəl/
  • General-American: no͞oʹm(ə)rəl
  • General-American: /ˈnuməɹəl/
  • General-American: /ˈnumɹəl/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: N UW1 M ER0 AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or relating to numbers; numerical.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

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.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

A representation of a number composed of such symbols.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Narrower terms: cardinal numeral, ordinal numeral, distributive numeral, multiplicative numeral, multiplier, collective numeral

5

noun

Meaning 5

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: card-games, games

Examples

  • Jacks, queens, and kings are not numerals.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

6

adjective

Meaning 6

of or relating to or denoting numbers

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a numeral adjective

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: numerical, numeric

Antonyms: none provided

7

noun

Meaning 7

a symbol used to represent a number

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • he learned to write the numerals before he went to school

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: number

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: symbol

Narrower terms: Arabic numeral, Hindu numeral, Hindu-Arabic numeral, Roman numeral, antilogarithm, antilog

History

Etymology

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.

Across languages

Translations

225 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Spanish: numeral — numerical
  • Albanian: numër — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Arabic: عَدَد (ʕadad) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Arabic: رَقْم (raqm) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Armenian: թիվ (tʻiv) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Azerbaijani: nömrə — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Belarusian: лі́чба (líčba) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Belarusian: цы́фра (cýfra) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Bengali: সংখ্যা (śoṅkha) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Bulgarian: ци́фра (cífra) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Bulgarian: число́ (čisló) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Burmese: ဂဏန်း (ga.nan:) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Catalan: número — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Catalan: xifra — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Chinese Cantonese: 數字 /数字 (sou3 zi6) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Chinese: 數字 /数字 (zh-min-nan) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Chinese Mandarin: 數字 /数字 (shùzì) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Wu Chinese: 數字 /数字 (5su-zy) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Crimean Tatar: raqam — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Czech: číslice — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Danish: tal — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Dutch: cijfer — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Esperanto: cifero — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Faroese: talstavur — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Finnish: numero — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • French: chiffre — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Georgian: ციფრი (cipri) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • German: Zahl — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • German: Ziffer — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • German: Zahlzeichen — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Greek: αριθμητικό (arithmitikó) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Hebrew: סִפְרָה (sifrá) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Hindi: अंक (aṅk) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Hindi: संख्या (saṅkhyā) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Hindi: नंबर (nambar) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Hungarian: szám — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Hungarian: számjegy — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Icelandic: tala — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Indonesian: angka — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Ingrian: numerali — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Ingrian: cislasana — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Irish: figiúr — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Irish: uimhir — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Japanese: 数字 (sūji) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Kazakh: сан (san) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Kazakh: нөмір (nömır) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Khmer: លេខ (leek) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Korean: 숫자 (sutja) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Korean: 수자 (suja) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Kyrgyz: сан (san) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Lao: ຕົວເລກ (tūa lēk) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Latin: numerāle — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Latvian: cipars — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Lithuanian: skaitmuo — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Macedonian: бројка (brojka) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Malay: angka — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Māori: tohutau — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Māori: tūtau — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Mongolian: цифр (cifr) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tall — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tal — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Persian: عَدَد (adad) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Persian: رَقَم (raqam) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Iranian Persian: عَدَد (adad) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Iranian Persian: رَقَم (raġam) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Polish: cyfra — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Romanian: număr — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Russian: ци́фра (cífra) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Russian: число́ (čisló) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Russian: но́мер (nómer) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Scottish Gaelic: figear — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Serbo-Croatian: бро̑јка — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Serbo-Croatian: brȏjka — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Slovak: číslica — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Slovene: številka — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Spanish: número — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Spanish: cifra — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Spanish: guarismo — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Swedish: tal — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Swedish: siffra — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Tagalog: pamilang — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Tagalog: pambilang — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Tajik: адад (adad) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Tajik: рақам (raqam) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Thai: ตัวเลข (dtuua-lêek) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Tibetan: ཨང་ཀི (ang ki) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Turkish: rakam — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Turkmen: san — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Ukrainian: ци́фра (cýfra) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Ukrainian: число́ (čysló) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Urdu: عَدَد ('adad) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Urdu: رَقَم (raqam) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Urdu: نَمْبَر (nambar) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Uyghur: سان (san) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Uyghur: رەقەم (reqem) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Uzbek: raqam — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Uzbek: son — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Vietnamese: số — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Vietnamese: chữ số — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Welsh: rhifolyn — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Yiddish: ציפֿער (tsifer) — non-word symbol that represents a number
  • Albanian: numër — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Albanian: shifër — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Albanian: numëror — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Southern Altai: тооломо (toolomo) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Arabic: عَدَد (ʕadad) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Arabic: رَقْم (raqm) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Armenian: թվական (tʻvakan) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Asturian: numberal — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Azerbaijani: say — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Azerbaijani: rəqəm — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Azerbaijani: ədəd — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Bashkir: һан (han) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Belarusian: лічэ́бнік (ličébnik) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Bengali: অঙ্ক (oṅko) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Bengali: সংখ্যা (śoṅkha) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Breton: niver — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Bulgarian: числи́телно и́ме (čislítelno íme) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Bulgarian: числи́телно (čislítelno) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Burmese: ဂဏန်း (ga.nan:) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Carpathian Rusyn: чісло́вник (čislóvnyk) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Catalan: número — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Catalan: xifra — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Catalan: numeral — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Chinese Cantonese: 數詞 /数词 (sou3 ci4) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Chinese Cantonese: 數字 /数字 (sou3 zi6) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Chinese: фур (fur) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Chinese Mandarin: 數詞 /数词 (shùcí) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Chinese Mandarin: 數字 /数字 (shùzì) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Crimean Tatar: sayı — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Czech: číslovka — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Czech: numerale — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Danish: talord — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Danish: numerale — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Dutch: telwoord — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Esperanto: numeralo — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Esperanto: nombrovorto — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Estonian: arvsõna — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Finnish: numero — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Finnish: numeraali — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • French: chiffre — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • German: Numerale — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • German: Zahlwort — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Greek: αριθμός (arithmós) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Greek: νούμερο (noúmero) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Greek: ψηφίο (psifío) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Hebrew: סִפְרָה (sifrá) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Hindi: अंक (aṅk) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Hindi: संख्या (saṅkhyā) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Hungarian: számnév — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Icelandic: töluorð — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Interlingua: numero — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Interlingua: numeral — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Italian: numero — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Italian: cifra — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Japanese: 数字 (sūji) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Japanese: 数詞 (sūshi) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Kazakh: сан (san) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Korean: 숫자 (sutja) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Korean: 수사 (susa) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Kyrgyz: сан (san) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Lao: ເລກ (lēk) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Lao: ຕົວເລກ (tūa lēk) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Latin: numerus — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Latvian: skaitļa vārds — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Latvian: numerālis — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Lithuanian: skaitvardis — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Macedonian: број (broj) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Malay: angka — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Maltese: numru — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Maltese: ċifra — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Mongolian: тооны нэр (toony ner) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tall — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Norwegian Bokmål: tallord — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Norwegian Bokmål: numerale — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: tal — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: talord — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: numerale — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Pashto: رقم (raqam) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Pashto: عدد ('adad) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Persian: عَدَد (adad) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Persian: رَقَم (raqam) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Iranian Persian: عَدَد (adad) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Iranian Persian: رَقَم (raġam) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Polish: liczebnik — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Portuguese: número — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Portuguese: numeral — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Romanian: număr — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Romanian: numeral — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Russian: числи́тельное (čislítelʹnoje) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Russian: и́мя числи́тельное (ímja čislítelʹnoje) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Russian: ци́фра (cífra) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Russian: число́ (čisló) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Sanskrit: संख्या (saṃkhyā) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Serbo-Croatian: brȏj — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Serbo-Croatian: brȏj — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Slovak: číslovka — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Slovene: števnik — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Lower Sorbian: licbnik — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Upper Sorbian: numeral — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Upper Sorbian: ličbnik — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Spanish: letra numeral — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Swedish: siffra — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Swedish: räkneord — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Tajik: рақам (raqam) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Tajik: адад (adad) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Tatar: сан (san) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Thai: เลข (lêek) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Thai: ตัวเลข (dtuua-lêek) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Tibetan: གྲངས་ཚིག (grangs tshig) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Turkish: rakam — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Turkish: adet — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Turkish: sayı — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Turkmen: san — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Udmurt: лыдним (lydńim) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Ukrainian: числі́вник (čyslívnyk) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Urdu: عَدَد ('adad) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Urdu: رَقَم (raqam) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Uyghur: رەقەم (reqem) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Uyghur: سان (san) — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Uzbek: raqam — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Uzbek: son — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Vietnamese: số từ — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Volapük: numavöd — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
  • Welsh: rhifolyn — word or symbol representing a number — see also noun numeral
Real reading context

numeral in complete knowledge articles