Non-numerical words for quantities
The English language has a number of words that denote specific or approximate quantities that are themselves not numbers.[1] Along with numerals, and special-purpose words like some, any, much, more, every, and all, they are Quantifiers. Quantifiers are a kind of determiner and occur in many constructions with other determiners, like articles: e.g., two dozen or more than a score. Scientific non-numerical quantities are represented as SI units.
List of non-numerical quantities[edit]
| Name | Quantity | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Brace | 2 | An old term of venery, meaning means ‘a pair of [some animal, especially birds] caught in the hunt’. Also a measure of length, originally representing a person's outstretched arms. |
| Couple | 2 | A set of two of items of a type |
| Century | 100 | Primarily denotes one hundred years, but occasionally used, especially in the context of competitive racing, to refer to something consisting of one hundred, as in a 100-mile race. |
| Dozen | 12 | A collection of twelve things or units from Old French dozaine "a dozen, a number of twelve" in various usages, from doze (12c.) [2] |
| Baker's dozen | 13 | From the notion that a baker would include an extra item in a batch of twelve so as not to be accused of shortchanging a customer |
| Half-dozen | 6 | Six of something |
| Decade | 10 | Primarily denotes ten years, but occasionally refers to ten of something |
| Duo | 2 | In reference to people engaged in an endeavor together, as in musical performance (other words denote three or more people in the same context: trio, quartet, etc.) |
| Grand | 1,000 | Slang for a thousand of some unit of currency, such as dollars or pounds. |
| Gross | 144 | Twelve dozen |
| Score | 20 | Presumably from the practice, in counting sheep or large herds of cattle, of counting orally from one to twenty, and making a score or notch on a stick, before proceeding to count the next twenty.[3][4] A distance of twenty yards in ancient archery and gunnery.[5] |
| Large | 1,000 | Slang for one thousand |
| Myriad | 10,000 | Loosely refers to a very large quantity |
| Pair | 2 | Often in reference to identical objects |
| Trio | 3 | Referring to people working or collaborating especially in musical performance |
| Few | 3 | Small number of something |
| Quartet | 4 | Referring to people working or collaborating especially in musical performance |
| Great gross | 1,728 | A dozen gross (12x144) |
| Hat-trick | 3 | The achievement of, a generally positive feat, three times in a game, or another achievement based on the number three [6] |
| Several | 3 | Three or more but not many. |
| Small gross | 120 | Ten dozen (10x12) [7] |
| Great hundred | 120 | Ten dozen (10x12) or six score (6x20), also known as long-hundred or twelfty [8][9] |
| None | 0 | Zero |
References[edit]
- ^ "Non-numerical words for quantities ⋆ Annie Non-numerical words". Annie. 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ "dozen | Origin and meaning of dozen by Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Conway, John H.; Guy, Richard K. (1996). The Book of Numbers. doi:10.1007/978-1-4612-4072-3. ISBN 978-1-4612-8488-8.
- ^ "score | Search Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ "score - Wiktionary". en.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ "hat trick | Search Online Etymology Dictionary". www.etymonline.com. Retrieved 2021-03-22.
- ^ Wright, Carroll Davidson (1910). The New Century Book of Facts: A Handbook of Ready Reference. King-Richardson Company.
- ^ Wells, David (1986). The Penguin dictionary of curious and interesting numbers. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-026149-4. OCLC 39262447.
- ^ Zupko, Ronald Edward (1968). A dictionary of English weights and measures : from Anglo-Saxon times to the nineteenth century. University of Wisconsin Press. OCLC 898998378.