In
linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
, and more precisely in traditional grammar, a cardinal numeral (or cardinal number word) is a
part of speech
In grammar, a part of speech or part-of-speech (abbreviated as POS or PoS, also known as word class or grammatical category) is a category of words (or, more generally, of lexical items) that have similar grammatical properties. Words that are as ...
used to
count
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
. Examples in
English are the words ''one'', ''two'', ''three'', and the
compound
Compound may refer to:
Architecture and built environments
* Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall
** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...
s ''three hundred
ndforty-two'' and ''nine hundred
ndsixty''. Cardinal
numerals are classified as definite, and are related to
ordinal numbers
In set theory, an ordinal number, or ordinal, is a generalization of ordinal numerals (first, second, th, etc.) aimed to extend enumeration to infinite sets.
A finite set can be enumerated by successively labeling each element with the least ...
, such as the English ''first'', ''second'', ''third'', etc.
See also
*
Arity
*
Cardinal number
In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality (size) of sets. The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number: the number of elements in the set. T ...
for the related usage in mathematics
*
English numerals
English number words include numerals and various words derived from them, as well as a large number of words borrowed from other languages.
Cardinal numbers
Cardinal numbers refer to the size of a group. In English, these words are numerals.
...
(in particular the ''
Cardinal numbers
In mathematics, cardinal numbers, or cardinals for short, are a generalization of the natural numbers used to measure the cardinality (size) of sets. The cardinality of a finite set is a natural number: the number of elements in the set. The ...
'' section)
*
Distributive number
In linguistics, a distributive numeral, or distributive number word, is a word that answers "how many times each?" or "how many at a time?", such as ''singly'' or ''doubly''. They are contrasted with multipliers. In English, this part of speec ...
*
Multiplier
*
Numeral for examples of number systems
*
Ordinal number
*
Valency
Reference01863970499s
Notes
Numerals
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