Japanese numerals

TheJapanese numeralsarenumeralsthat are used inJapanese.In writing, they are the same as theChinese numerals,and large numbers follow the Chinese style of grouping by 10,000. Two pronunciations are used: theSino-Japanese(on'yomi) readings of theChinese charactersand the Japaneseyamato kotoba(native words,kun'yomireadings).

Basic numbering in Japanese

There are two ways of writing the numbers in Japanese: inArabic numerals(1, 2, 3) or inChinese numerals(Một,Nhị,Tam). The Arabic numerals are more often used inhorizontal writing,and the Chinese numerals are more common invertical writing.

Most numbers havetwo readings,one derived from Chinese used forcardinal numbers(On reading) and a native Japanese reading (Kun reading) used somewhat less formally for numbers up to 10. In some cases (listed below) the Japanese reading is generally preferred for all uses. Archaic readings are marked with †.

Number	Character	Onreading	Kunreading	Preferred reading
0	Linh/〇*	rei /れい	maru /まる	zero /ゼロ(loanword,gairaigo)
1	Một	ichi /いち	hito(tsu) /ひと・つ	ichi / いち
2	Nhị	ni /に	futa(tsu) /ふた・つ	ni / に
3	Tam	san /さん	mit(tsu) /みっ・つ	san / さん
4	Bốn	shi /し	yon, yot(tsu) /よん, よっ・つ	yon / よん
5	Năm	go /ご	itsu(tsu) /いつ・つ	go / ご
6	Sáu	roku /ろく	mut(tsu) /むっ・つ	roku / ろく
7	Bảy	shichi /しち	nana(tsu) /なな・つ	nana / なな
8	Tám	hachi /はち	yat(tsu) /やっ・つ	hachi / はち
9	Chín	ku, kyū/く, きゅう	kokono(tsu) /ここ の ・つ	kyū / きゅう
10	Mười	jū /じゅう	tō /とお	jū / じゅう
20	Hai mươi	ni-jū /にじゅう	(hata /はた)†	ni-jū / にじゅう
30	30	san-jū /さんじゅう	(miso /みそ)†	san-jū / さんじゅう
40	40	shi-jū /しじゅう	(yoso /よそ)†	yon-jū / よんじゅう
50	50	go-jū /ごじゅう	(iso /いそ)†	go-jū / ごじゅう
60	60	roku-jū /ろくじゅう	(muso /むそ)†	roku-jū / ろくじゅう
70	70	shichi-jū /しちじゅう	(nanaso /ななそ)†	nana-jū / ななじゅう
80	80	hachi-jū /はちじゅう	(yaso /やそ)†	hachi-jū / はちじゅう
90	90	ku-jū /くじゅう	(kokonoso /ここ の そ)†	kyū-jū / きゅうじゅう
100	Trăm	hyaku /ひゃく	(momo /もも)†	hyaku / ひゃく
500	500	go-hyaku /ごひゃく	(io /いお)†	go-hyaku / ごひゃく
800	800	hap-pyaku /はっぴゃく	(yao /やお)†	hap-pyaku / はっぴゃく
1,000	Ngàn	sen /せん	(chi /ち)†	sen / せん
10,000	Vạn	man /まん	(yorozu /よろず)†	man / まん
100,000,000	Trăm triệu	oku /おく	—	oku / おく
1,000,000,000,000	Triệu	chō /ちょう	—	chō / ちょう
10,000,000,000,000,000	Kinh	kei /けい	—	kei / けい

* The special reading 〇maru(which means "round" or "circle" ) is also found. It may be optionally used when reading individual digits of a number one after another, instead of as a full number. A popular example is thefamous 109 storeinShibuya, Tokyowhich is read asichi-maru-kyū(Kanji:Một 〇 chín). (It can also be read as 'ten-nine'—pronouncedtō-kyū—which is a pun on the name of the Tokyu department store which owns the building.) This usage ofmarufor numerical 0 is similar to reading numeral 0 in English asoh.However, as a number, it is only written as 0 orrei(Linh).Additionally, two and five are pronounced with a long vowel in phone numbers (i.e.にいnī andごおgō).

As noted above,yon(4) andnana(7) are preferred toshiandshichi.It is purported that this is becauseshiis also the reading of the worddeath(Chết),which makes it an unlucky reading (seetetraphobia); whileshichimay sound too similar toichi(1),shiorhachi(8). However, in quite a number of established words and phrases,shiandshichiare preferred; additionally, when counting (as in "ichi, ni, san, shi,..." ),shiandshichimay be preferred.

The number 9 is also considered unlucky; when pronouncedku,it is a homophone forsuffering(Khổ).The number 13 is sometimes considered unlucky, though this is a carryover fromWestern tradition.In contrast, 7 and sometimes 8 are considered lucky in Japanese.

In modern Japanese, cardinal numbers except 4 and 7 are generally given theonreadings. Alternate readings are used in month names, day-of-month names, and fixed phrases; for instance, April, July, and September are calledshi-gatsu(4th month),shichi-gatsu(7th month), andku-gatsu(9th month) respectively (for further detail seeJapanese counter word#Exceptions). Theonreadings are also used when shouting out headcounts (e.g. ichi-ni-san-shi).

Larger numbers are made by combining these elements:

• Tens from 20 to 90 are "(digit)-jū" as in hai mươi (ni-jū) to 90 (kyū-jū).
• Hundreds from 200 to 900 are "(digit)-hyaku".
• Thousands from 2000 to 9000 are "(digit)-sen".

Starting at a myriad ( vạn ), numbers begin with một (ichi) if no digit would otherwise precede. That is, 100 is just trămhyaku,and 1000 is just ngànsen,but 10000 is một vạnichiman,not just *man.(This differs from Chinese, where numbers begin with một if no digit would otherwise precede starting at 100.) And, if ngànsendirectly precedes the name of powers ofmyriad,Mộtichiis normally attached before ngànsen,which yields một ngànissen.That is, 10,000,000 (parsed as 1000,0000) is normally read as một ngàn vạnissenman.But if ngànsendoesnotdirectly precede the name of powers of myriad, attaching mộtichiis optional. That is, 15,000,000 (1500,0000) is read as ngàn 500 vạnsengohyakumanor 1500 vạnissengohyakuman,just as 1500 is read as ngàn 500sengohyakuor 1500issengohyaku.

There are some phonetic modifications to larger numbers involvingvoicingorgeminationof certain consonants, as typically occurs in Japanese (i.e.rendaku): e.g.roku"six" andhyaku"hundred" yieldroppyaku"six hundred".

×	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	100	1000
100	hyaku, ippyaku	nihyaku	sanbyaku	yonhyaku	gohyaku	roppyaku	nanahyaku	happyaku	kyūhyaku	—	—	—
1,000	sen, issen	nisen	sanzen	yonsen	gosen	rokusen	nanasen	hassen	kyūsen	—	—	—
1012	itchō	nichō	sanchō	yonchō	gochō	rokuchō	nanachō	hatchō	kyūchō	jutchō*	hyakuchō	issenchō
1016	ikkei	nikei	sankei	yonkei	gokei	rokkei	nanakei	hakkei	kyūkei	jukkei*	hyakkei**	issenkei

* This also applies to multiples of 10. Change ending-jūto-jutchōor-jukkei.
** This also applies to multiples of 100. Change ending-kuto-kkei.

In numbers above 10, elements are combined from largest to smallest, and zeros are implied. Japanese numerals are multiplicative additive rather than positional; to write the number 20 you get the character for two ( nhị ) and then the character for ten ( mười ) to get two tens or twenty ( hai mươi ).

Number	Character	Reading	Basic Meaning
11	Mười một	jū ichi	Ten and One
17	Mười bảy	jū nana, jū shichi	Ten and Seven
151	Trăm 51	hyaku go-jū ichi	Hundred, Five Tens and One
302	300 nhị	san-byaku ni	Three Hundreds and Two
469	469	yon-hyaku roku-jū kyū	Four Hundreds, Six Tens and Nine
2025	2025	ni-sen ni-jū go	Two Thousands, Two Tens and Five

Other types of numerals

Forordinal numbers,seeJapanese counter word#Ordinal numbers.

Distributive numbersare formed regularly from a cardinal number, a counter word, and the suffix-zutsu(ずつ),as inhitori-zutsu(Một người ずつ,one person at a time, one person each).

Powers of 10

Large numbers

Following Chinese tradition, large numbers are created by grouping digits intomyriads(every 10,000) rather than the Western thousands (1,000):

Rank	104	108	1012	1016	1020	1024	1028	1032	1036	1040	1044	1048	1052 (or 1056)	1056 (or 1064)	1060 (or 1072)	1064 (or 1080)	1068 (or 1088)
Character	Vạn	Trăm triệu	Triệu	Kinh	Cai	𥝱,Tỉ	Nhương	Mương	Khe	Chính	Tái	Cực	Sông Hằng sa	A tăng chỉ	Kia từ hắn,Kia từ nhiều	Không thể tưởng tượng	Vô lượng toàn cục
Reading	man	oku	chō	kei	gai	jo,shi	jō	kō	kan	sei	sai	goku	gōgasha	asōgi	nayuta	fukashigi	muryōtaisū

Variation is due to theJinkōki(Trần kiếp nhớ), Japan's oldest mathematics text. The initial edition was published in 1627 and had many errors, most of which were fixed in the 1631 edition. In 1634, there was yet another edition which again changed a few values. The above variation is due to inconsistencies in the latter two editions. There are different characters for 10²⁴(of whichTỉis in Chinese today), and after 10⁴⁸they differ in whether they continue increasing by a factor of 10⁴or switch to 10⁸.(If by a factor of 10⁸,the intervening factors of 10⁴are produced withVạnman.The current edition of theJinkōki,the 11th, follows a factor of 10⁴throughout, though some people still use the values from the 8th edition even today.)

The first three numbers with multisyllabic names and variation in assigned values ultimately derive from India, though they did not have defined values there.Sông Hằng sagōgashawas originally used in Buddhist scripture for an indefinitely large quantity; it derives from theSanskritगङ्गाgangā'Ganges' (which conveniently includes the characterHàka'river') andSasha'sand', referring to the innumerable sands of the Ganges River.A tăng chỉasōgi,from Sanskritअसंख्येयasaṃkhyeya'uncountable/innumerable', with the negative prefixAa,andKia từ hắnnayutais from Sanskritनयुत/नयुतःnayuta(ḥ).After that, the numbers are Buddhist terms translated into or coined in Chinese and later assigned numerical values:Không thể tưởng tượngfukashigi'unimaginable' andVô lượng toàn cụcmuryōtaisū'immeasurably large number'.

Examples:(spacing by groups of four digits is given only for clarity of explanation)

• 1 0000:Một vạn(ichi-man)
• 983 6703:983 vạn 6700 tam(kyū-hyaku hachi-jū san-man, roku-sen nana-hyaku san)
• 20 3652 1801:2 tỷ 3652 vạn ngàn 800 một(ni-jū oku, san-zen rop-pyaku go-jū ni-man, sen hap-pyaku ichi)

However, numbers written in Arabic numerals are separated by commas every three digits following English-speaking convention. If Arabic numbers and kanji are used in combination, Western orders of magnitude may be used for numbers smaller than 10,000 (e.g.2,500 vạnfor 25,000,000).

In Japanese, when long numbers are written out in kanji, zeros are omitted for all powers of ten. Hence 4002 is4000 nhị(in contrast, Chinese requires the use ofLinhwherever a zero appears, e.g.4002for 4002). However, when reading out a statement of accounts, for example, the skipped digit or digits are sometimes indicated bytobi(Phi び) ortonde(Phi んで): e.g.yon-sentobinioryon-sentondeniinstead of the normalyon-sen ni.

Decimal fractions

Japanese has two systems of numerals for decimal fractions. They are no longer in general use, but are still used in some instances such as batting and fielding averages of baseball players, winning percentages for sports teams, and in some idiomatic phrases such asNăm phần năm phần の thắng bại(gobugobu no shōbu,'fifty-fifty chance'),and when representing a rate or discount. Thebufractions are also used when talking about fevers—for exampleChín độ nhị phân(kudonibu)for 9 and two parts—referring to the temperature 39.2°C.

One system is as follows:

Rank	10−1	10−2	10−3	10−4	10−5	10−6	10−7	10−8	10−9	10−10
Character	Phân	Li	Mao	Mịch	Chợt	Hơi	繊	Sa	Trần	Ai
Reading	bu	rin	mō	shi	kotsu	bi	sen	sha	jin	ai

This is the system used with the traditionalJapanese units of measurement.Several of the names are used "as is" to represent a fraction of asun.

The other system of representing these decimal fractions of rate or discount uses a system "shifted down" with abubecoming a "one hundredth" and so on, and the unit for "tenth" becomingwari:

Rank	10−1	10−2	10−3	10−4	10−5
Character	Cắt	Phân	Li	Mao	Mịch
Reading	wari	bu	rin	mō	shi

This is often used with prices. For example:

• Một cắt năm phần dẫn き(ichi-wari go-bu biki):15% discount
• Đánh suất tam cắt tám phần chín li(daritsu san-wari hachi-bu kyū-rin):batting average.389

With the exception ofwari,these are rarely seen in modern usage. Decimal fractions are typically written with either kanji numerals (vertically) or Arabic numerals (horizontally), preceded by a decimal point, and are read as successive digits, as in Western convention. Note that, in written form, they can be combined with either the traditional system of expressing numerals (42.195 kilometers: 42 ・ một cửu ngũ キロメートル), in which powers of ten are written, or with the place value system, which uses zero (50.04 percent: Năm 〇・〇 bốn パーセント.) In both cases, however, the reading follows the traditional system (yon-jū ni-ten ichi-kyū go kiromētorufor 42.195 kilometers;go ju-tten rei-yon pāsentofor 50.04 percent.)

Formal numbers

Getabako

As with Chinese numerals, there exists in Japanese a separate set of kanji for numerals calleddaiji( chữ to ) used in legal and financial documents to prevent unscrupulous individuals from adding a stroke or two, turning a one into a two or a three. The formal numbers are identical to theChinese formal numbersexcept for minor stroke variations. Today, the numbers for one, two, three, and ten are written only in their formal form in legal documents (the numbers 4 to 9 as well as 100, 1000 and 10000 are written identically to the common ones, cf. table below).These numbers' common forms can be changed to a higher value by adding strokes (1 and 2 were explained above, while 3 can be changed to 5, and 10 to 1000). In some cases, the digit 1 is explicitly written like nhất trăm nhất nhặt for 110, as opposed to trên dưới một trăm in common writing.

Formal numbers:

Number	Common	Formal
		In use	Obsolete
1	Một	Nhất	Nhất
2	Nhị	弐	Hai
3	Tam	Tham	Tham
4	Bốn	Bốn	Tứ
5	Năm	Năm	Ngũ
6	Sáu	Sáu	Lục
7	Bảy	Bảy	Thất, sơn
8	Tám	Tám	Bát
9	Chín	Chín	Cửu
10	Mười	Nhặt	Nhặt
100	Trăm	Trăm	Bách
1000	Ngàn	Ngàn	Thiên, ngàn
10000	Vạn	Vạn, vạn	Vạn

The four currentbanknotes of the Japanese yen,1000-yen, 2000-yen, 5000-yen, and 10000-yen, have formal numbers ngàn, 弐 ngàn, 5000, and nhất vạn, respectively.

Old Japanese

Old Japaneseshares some vocabulary with later periods, but there are also unique number terms over 10 which are not used any more, aside from being parts of specificlexemes.

Notes:

• The transcription is based on thephonemeand is notphonetic.SeeOld Japanesefor further information.
• SeeJōdai Tokushu Kanazukaifor information on subscript notation.

Number	Reading	Examples	Notes
1	pi1to2	Một ngàypi1to2pi1(1 day),Một nămpi1to2to2se(1 year)
2	futa	Nhị đêmfutayo2(2 nights)
3	mi1	30mi1so1(30)
4	yo2	40yo2so1(40),Bốn ngườiyo2tari(4 people)
5	itu	5 nămituto2se(5 years)
6	mu	Sáu trảomutuma(6 claws)
7	nana	Bảy lạinanase(many rapids)	Often used to mean many.
8	ya	Tám vânyakumo1(many clouds)	Often used to mean many.
9	ko2ko2no2	Chín trụko2ko2no2pasira(9 nobles / gods)
10	to2/to2wo	10 ngàyto2woka(10 days)
10	so1	30mi1so1(30),40yo2so1(40),60muso1(60),80yaso1(80)	Found only in compound words; not used alone.
20	pata	Hai mươipatati(20),Hai mươi ngườipatatari(20 people),20 nămpatato2se(20 years)
50	i	50 ngàyika(50 days)
100	po	500ipo(500),500 nămipoto2se(500 years),500 đêmipoyo2(500 nights),800yapo(800),300mi1po(300),600mupo(600),900ko2ko2no2po(900)	Used for multiple hundreds in compound numerals. Often used to mean many.
100	mo1mo1	Trăm ngàymo1mo1ka(many days)	Used for non-multiple hundred and for the number "100" by itself. Often used to mean many.
1000	ti	Ngàn nămtito2se(1000 years, many years)	Often used to mean many.
10000	yo2ro2du	800 vạnyapoyo2ro2du(8000000, myriad)	Often used to mean many.

Hand counting

See also:Finger counting § Asia

Japanese uses separate systems for counting for oneself and for displaying numbers to others, which both proceed up to ten. For counting, one begins with the palm open, then counts up to five by curling up (folding down) the fingers, starting from the thumb – thus one has just the thumb down (and others extended), while four has only the little finger extended, and five has a fist. One then counts up to ten by proceeding in the reverse order, extending the fingers, starting at the little finger – thus six is the same as four, seven the same as three, and so forth, with ten ending with the palm open. While this introduces ambiguity, it is not used to present to others, so this is generally not a problem. When displaying for others, one starts with the hand closed, and extends fingers, starting with the index, going to the little finger, then ending with the thumb, as in the United States. For numbers above five, one uses an open hand (indicating five) and places the appropriate number of fingers from the other hand against the palm (palms facing each other) – so six has the index finger against the palm, and so forth.To display ten, one presents both hands open and palm outwards.

Digits in written words

Since the adoption ofArabic numerals,numbers have become written in Arabic numerals more and more often. Counters and ordinal numbers are typically written in Arabic numbers, such as3 người(san-nin,three people),7 nguyệt(shichigatsu,July, "seventh-month" ),20 tuế(hatachi,age 20),etc., althoughBa người,Bảy thángandHai mươi tuếare also acceptable to write (albeit less common). However, numbers that are part of lexemes are typically written in kanji. For example, the termyaoya(800 phòng,'vegetable stand / grocer')translates into "800 store" and uses the Old Japanese pronunciation for 800,ya(h)o.The notorious Japanese organized crime syndicate, theyakuza,can be writtenTám chín tam(or 893), a hand inoicho-kabuthat is worth 0 points, indicating that yakuza are "worthless persons" or "gambling persons".

See also

• Chinese numerals
• Decimal mark
• Japanese counter word
• Japanese people
• Japanese wordplay § Numeric substitution

External links

• Toàn cục の danh trước について(in Japanese)
• Ancient Japanese number systemArchived2018-08-29 at theWayback Machine
• English exercises for learning Japanese numerals
• Audio to learn the pronunciation for Japanese numbers
• Convert kanji numerals to arabic numerals(sci.lang.Japan FAQ page)
• Convert arabic numerals to kanji numerals(sci.lang.Japan FAQ page)