View source for Indefinite and fictitious numbers

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Many languages have words expressing '''indefinite and fictitious numbers'''—inexact terms of indefinite size, used for comic effect, for exaggeration, as placeholder names, or when precision is unnecessary or undesirable. One technical term for such words is "non-numerical vague quantifier".<ref>[http://versita.metapress.com/content/t98071387u726916/?p=1ad6a085630c432c94528c5548f5c2c4&pi=1 "Bags of Talent, a Touch of Panic, and a Bit of Luck: The Case of Non-Numerical Vague Quantifiers" from Linguista Pragensia, Nov. 2, 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120731092211/http://versita.metapress.com/content/t98071387u726916/?p=1ad6a085630c432c94528c5548f5c2c4&pi=1 |date=2012-07-31 }}</ref> Such words designed to indicate large quantities can be called "indefinite hyperbolic numerals".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/ideas/2016/07/13/the-surprising-history-indefinite-hyperbolic-numerals/qYTKpkP9lyWVfItLXuTHdM/story.html|title=The surprising history of indefinite hyperbolic numerals - The Boston Globe|website=The Boston Globe |access-date=1 April 2018}}</ref>

== Specific values used as indefinite ==

* In [[Social:Arabic|Arabic]], [[1001 (number)|1001]] is used similarly, as in ''The Book of [[Religion:One Thousand and One Nights|One Thousand and One Nights]]'' (''lit.'' "a thousand nights and one night").<ref name="cj"/> Many modern English book titles use this convention as well: ''1,001 Uses for ...''.
* In [[Social:Chinese language|Chinese]], {{Zh|c=|s={{linktext|十万八千里}}|t={{linktext|十萬八千里}}|p=shí wàn bā qiān lǐ|labels=no|first=t}}, 108,000 [[Li (unit)|li]], means a great distance.
* In [[Social:English language|English]], some words that have a precise numerical definition are often used indefinitely: couple, 2;<ref>"couple (noun)", ''Merriam-Webster Dictionary'', [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/couple definition 4]</ref> [[Dozen|dozen]], 12; [[20 (number)|score]], 20; [[Myriad|myriad]], 10,000. Unlike [[Cardinal number|cardinal number]]s these can be pluralized, in which case they require ''of'' before the noun (''millions of dollars'', but ''five million dollars'') and require the indefinite article "a" in the singular (''a million letters'' (indefinite) but ''one million letters'' (definite)). "Eleventy" (or "eleventy-seven"), popularized by ''The Lord of the Rings'', is derived from an [[Social:Old English|Old English]] word for [[110 (number)|110]] but is more commonly used as an indefinite number.
* In [[Social:Hungarian language|Hungarian]], people often say "26 times" for expressing their impatience or dissatisfaction about a recurring act (for example, "26 times I told you that I know Peter!").{{Citation needed|date=December 2023}}
* In [[Social:French language|French]], 36 and 36,000 are occasionally used as a synonym for "very many".
* In Hebrew and other Middle Eastern traditions, the number [[40 (number)#In religion|40]] is used to express a large but unspecific number,<ref>A.D. Alderson, Fahir İz, ''The Concise Oxford Turkish Dictionary'', Oxford, 1959, ''s.v.'' ''kırk'': "Forty; ''used especially to denote a large indefinite number''</ref><ref name="cj">"Biblical Criticism", ''The Classical Journal'' '''36''':71:83''ff'' (March 1827) [https://books.google.com/books?id=qXg_AAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA83 full text]</ref> as in the [[Religion:Hebrew Bible|Hebrew Bible]]'s "forty days and forty nights", ''Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves'', and the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste.<ref name="coogan">Michael David Coogan, ''A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in Its Context'', Oxford, 2008, p. 116</ref><ref>{{Cite Jewish Encyclopedia |title= Numbers and numerals |url= http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11619-numbers-and-numerals#anchor3 |first=Caspar |last=Levias |volume=9 |page=349 |access-date=2017-04-27}} "Forty: Stands in the Bible for a generation (e.g., the forty years of wandering in the desert), hence for any period of time the exact duration of which is unknown (comp. Gen. vii. 4, 12, 17; viii. 6; Ex. xxiv. 18, xxxiv. 28; Deut. ix. 9, 11, 18; x. 10; I Sam. xvii. 16; I Kings xix. 8; Jonah iii. 4). In later literature forty is commonly used as a round number (comp. Giṭ. 39b, 40a; Soṭah 34a;  Yer. Ta'an. iv. 8; et al.)."</ref> This usage is sometimes found in English as well (for example, "forty winks").<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st edition, ''s.v.'' 'forty' A.b.</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://wordhistories.net/2017/11/16/forty-winks-origin/| title=Meaning and Origin of 'Forty Winks'| last=Tréguer| first=Pascal| date=November 16, 2017| website=Word Histories}}</ref>
* In [[Social:Irish language|Irish]], 100,000 (''céad míle'') is used, as in the phrase ''céad míle fáilte'', "a hundred thousand welcomes" or Gabriel Rosenstock's poetic phrase {{Lang-ir|mo chéad míle grá}} ("my hundred thousand loves").<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ancarn.org/uploads/1398944377Cl-r-na-Feise-B-ARLA-9-4-14.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2017-04-02 |archive-date=2017-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170403111523/http://www.ancarn.org/uploads/1398944377Cl-r-na-Feise-B-ARLA-9-4-14.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* In [[Social:Japanese language|Japanese]], {{nihongo2|{{linktext|八千}}}}, [[8000 (number)|8000]], is used: {{nihongo2|八千草}} (''lit.'' 8,000 herbs) means a variety of herbs and {{nihongo2|八千代}} (''lit.'' 8,000 generations) means eternity.
* In [[Social:Latin language|Latin]], {{Lang-la|sescenti|label=none}} ([[600 (number)|600]]) was used to mean a very large number, perhaps from the size of a Roman cohort.<ref>Lewis and Short, ''A Latin Dictionary'', ''s.v.'' ''[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0059%3Aentry%3Dsescenti sescenti]''</ref> The modern word ''million'' derives from an Italian augmentative of the Latin word for thousand, {{Lang-la|mille|label=none}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/million|title=Million|website=Online Etymological Dictionary|access-date=19 August 2022}}</ref>
* In [[Social:Polish language|Polish]], ''tysiąc pięćset sto dziewięćset'' ("one thousand five hundred one hundred nine hundred") is used, to refer to an indefinitely large number.<ref>{{Citation |title=tysiąc pięćset sto dziewięćset |date=2022-12-03 |url=https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=tysi%C4%85c_pi%C4%99%C4%87set_sto_dziewi%C4%99%C4%87set&oldid=70223596 |work=Wiktionary |access-date=2023-04-05 |language=en}}</ref>
* In [[Social:Swedish language|Swedish]], {{Lang-sv|femtioelva|label=none}} or {{Lang-sv|sjuttioelva|label=none}} is used ({{lit}} "fifty-eleven" and "seventy-eleven", although never actually intended to refer to the numbers 61 and 81).
* In [[Social:Thai language|Thai]], ร้อยแปด (''roi paed)'' means both 108 and miscellaneous, various, plentiful.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thai2english.com/dictionary/1389866.html|title=ร้อยแปด - Thai / English dictionary meaning - ร้อยแปด ภาษาอังกฤษ แปล ความหมาย|website=www.thai2english.com|language=en|access-date=2019-02-03}}</ref>
* In [[Social:Welsh language|Welsh]], ''cant a mil'', literally "a hundred and thousand", is used to mean a large number in a similar way to English "a hundred and one".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://welsh-dictionary.ac.uk/gpc/gpc.html?cant_a_mil|title=Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online}}</ref> It is used in phrases such as ''cant a mil o bethau i'w wneud'' "a hundred and one things to do" i.e. "many, many things to do".

The number 10,000 is used to express an even larger approximate number, as in Hebrew {{lang|he|{{linktext|רבבה}}}} ''r<sup>e</sup>vâvâh'',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://studybible.info/strongs/H7233|title=H7233 רבבה - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon|website=studybible.info|access-date=1 April 2018}}</ref> rendered into Greek as {{Lang-el|{{linktext|μυριάδες}}|label=none}}, and to English ''[[Myriad|myriad]]''.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 3rd edition, ''s.v.'' 'myriad'</ref> Similar usage is found in the [[Place:East Asian cultural sphere|East Asian]] {{lang|zh|{{linktext|萬}}}} or {{lang|zh|{{linktext|万}}}} (''lit.'' 10,000; {{Zh|c=|s=|t=|p=wàn}}), and the South Asian [[Lakh|lakh]] (''lit.'' 100,000).<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'' 1st ed., ''s.v.'' 'lakh'</ref>

== Umpteen ==

'''Umpteen''', '''umteen''' or '''umpty'''<ref name="oed"/> is an unspecified but large [[Number|number]], used in a humorous fashion or to imply that it is not worth the effort to pin down the actual figure. Despite the ''-teen'' ending, which would seem to indicate that it lies between 12 and 20, umpteen can be much larger.

"Umpty" is first attested in 1905, in the expression "umpty-seven", implying that it is a multiple of ten.<ref name="umpty">{{cite web|title=Umpty|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/208902|work=Oxford English Dictionary|access-date=14 April 2012}} (available online to subscribers)</ref><ref>Warren Harding, quoted in ''Advertising & Selling'' '''29''':28-52:26 (1920)</ref> ''Ump(ty)'' came from a verbalization of a dash in [[Engineering:Morse code|Morse code]].<ref name="umpty"/>

"Umpteen", adding the ending ''-teen'', as in "thirteen", is first attested in 1918,<ref>''The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language'' (2000), 4th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.</ref><ref name="oed">{{cite web|title=Umpteen|url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/208901|work=Oxford English Dictionary|access-date=14 April 2012}} (available online to subscribers)</ref><ref name="mw">[http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/umpteen Umpteen], [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ Merriam-Webster]. Accessed 2014-06-29.</ref> and has become by far the most common form.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=umpteen,umteen,umpty&year_start=1900&year_end=2008&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1;,umpteen;,c0;.t1;,umteen;,c0;.t1;,umpty;,c0|title=Google Ngram Viewer|website=books.google.com|access-date=1 April 2018}}</ref>

In Norwegian, ''ørten'' is used in a similar way, playing on the numbers from ''tretten'' (13) to ''nitten'' (19), but often signifying a much larger number.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.naob.no/ordbok/%C3%B8rten|title=''Det Norske Akademis ordbok'': ørten|website=www.naob.no|access-date=2019-12-23}}</ref>

Similarly, though with a larger base, Portuguese has ''milhentos'', which is derived from the words ''mil(har)'' (1000) and the suffix ''-entos'', present in words like ''trezentos'' (300) or ''quinhentos'' (500), roughly meaning "hundred".<ref>{{Cite web |last=S.A |first=Priberam Informática |title=milhentos |url=https://dicionario.priberam.org/milhentos |access-date=2023-05-19 |website=Dicionário Priberam |language=pt-br}}</ref>

=={{anchor|-illion}} -illion==
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Words with the [[Social:Suffix|suffix]] ''-illion'' (e.g., '''zillion''',<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zillion|title=Definition of ZILLION|website=www.merriam-webster.com|access-date=1 April 2018}}</ref> '''gazillion''',<ref>Included in the standard dictionary included with [[Software:Microsoft Word|Microsoft Word]] word-processing software</ref> '''bazillion''',<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of BAZILLION|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bazillion|access-date=2022-02-06|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref> '''jillion''',<ref>{{cite book| page=1103| title =The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English| volume= 2| editor1-last=Partridge |editor1-first= Eric |editor1-link= Eric Partridge |editor2-last=Dalzell |editor3-last=Victor |editor3-first=Terry | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2006 |isbn= 0-415-25938-X}}</ref> '''bajillion''',<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bajillion|title=Definition of Bajillion|website=Merriam-Webster|access-date=7 March 2021}}</ref> '''squillion''',<ref>{{cite web |title=squillion |url=https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/squillion |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104170101/https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/squillion |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 4, 2018 |website=Oxford Dictionaries |publisher=Oxford Dictionaries |access-date=4 November 2018 |ref=23}}</ref> and others) are often used as informal names for unspecified large numbers by analogy to [[Names of large numbers|names of large numbers]] such as ''[[1,000,000|million]]'' (10<sup>6</sup>), ''[[1,000,000,000|billion]]'' (10<sup>9</sup>) and ''[[Trillion|trillion]]'' (10<sup>12</sup>). In [[Social:Estonian language|Estonian]], the compound word ''mustmiljon'' ("black million") is used to mean an unfathomably large number. In Hungarian, ''csilliárd'' is used in the same "indefinitely large number" meaning as "zillion" in English. Probably humorous merging of words ''csillag'' ("star", referring to the large number of stars) and ''milliárd'' ("billion", cf. [[Long and short scales#Long scale|long scale]]).

These words are intended to denote a number that is large enough to be unfathomable and are typically used as hyperbole or for comic effect. They have no precise value or order. They form [[Ordinal numeral|ordinals]] and [[Fraction (mathematics)|fractions]] with the usual suffix ''-th'', e.g. "I asked her for the jillionth time", or are used with the suffix "-aire" to describe a wealthy person.

==Other==
A "[[Biography:Carl Sagan#Sagan units|sagan]]" or "sagan unit" is a facetious name for a very large number inspired by [[Biography:Carl Sagan|Carl Sagan]]'s association with the phrase "[[Biography:Carl Sagan#"Billions and billions"|billions and billions]]".<ref>[[Biography:William Safire|William Safire]], [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9507E3DF143EF934A25757C0A962958260 ON LANGUAGE; Footprints on the Infobahn], ''{{wipe|New York Times}}'', April 17, 1994</ref> It is not to be confused with Sagan's number, the number of stars in the [[Astronomy:Observable universe|observable universe]].

== See also ==
{{wikt|Thesaurus:zillion}}
* {{annotated link|Infinity}}
* {{annotated link|Social:It's Over 9000!}}
* {{annotated link|List of unusual units of measurement}}
* {{annotated link|List of humorous units of measurement}}
* {{annotated link|Large numbers}}
* {{annotated link|Names of large numbers}}
* {{annotated link|Unsolved:Unobtainium}}

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{Large numbers}}

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[[Category:Large numbers]]

de:Zahlennamen#Zillion

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