Cardinal numeral

A cardinal numeral (or 'cardinal number word') is a part of speech used to count.

Cardinal versus ordinal numbers

Cardinal	one	two	three	four
	1	2	3	4
Ordinal	first	second	third	fourth
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th

Examples are the words one, two, three, and also compounds like three hundred and forty-two (Commonwealth English) or three hundred forty-two (American English).

Cardinal numbers are definite numerals. They are related to ordinal numbers, such as first, second, third, etc.^[1][2][3]

Related pages

• Arity
• Cardinal number for the related usage in mathematics

References

1. David Crystal (2011). Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. p. 65. ISBN 978-1-405-15296-9.
2. Hadumo Bussmann (1999). Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-20319-7.
3. James R. Hurford (1994). Grammar: A Student's Guide. Camsixbridge University Press. pp. 23–24. ISBN 978-0-521-45627-2.