greek numerical prefixes

Numerical prefixes can be used to construct words that refer to a specific quantity of something. For example, in chemistry, carbon dioxide refers to a molecule containing two (di) oxygen atoms. A tetrahedron is a polyhedron with four (tetra) identical faces. A pentagram is a five-pointed star figure. The following numerical prefixes are from the Greek language:

1. mono
2. di
3. tri
4. tetra
5. penta
6. hexa
7. hepta
8. octa
9. ennea
10. deca
11. hendeca
12. dodeca
13. triskaideka
20. icosa
21. icosakaihena
30. triconta
40. tetraconta
50. pentaconta
60. hexaconta
70. heptaconta
80. octaconta
90. enneaconta
100. hecta
1000. chilia (ch pronounced /k/ in English)
10,000. myria

In practice, people often use the Latin prefixes nona and "undeca" for 9 and 11 instead of the Greek ennea and "hendeca". Prefixes above 12 are not commonly used, except 20 in icosahedron, 100 in hectare, and 1000 in the metric system.

Greek Numerical Prefixes

See Also