Japanese Numbers

数詞 SU SHI

Another good example for homophones ... there are many SUSHIs (pity, I love SUSHI )
Japanese Numbers, in ON- and KUN reading (Kanji 漢字 - The Word Characters!):

  1. 0: REI; ZERO (→nickname of a Japanese fighter plane in WW2)
  2. 1: ICHI, hitotsu
  3. 2: NI, futatsu
  4. 3: SAN, mittsu
  5. 4: SHI, yotsu
  6. 5: GO, itsutsu
  7. 6: ROKU, mutsu
  8. 7: SHICHI, nana
  9. 8: HACHI, yatsu
  10. 9: KYUU, kokonotsu
  11. 10: JUU, tou
  12. 20: NI-JUU, hatachi (Japanese legal age!)
  13. 100: KYAKU, momo
  14. 1.000: SEN, chi
  15. 10.000: MAN, yorozu
  16. 100.000.000: OKU (= MAN square)
Counting the Xth is done by adding X-BAN or X-BANME. That´s it.

NOTE!:

  1. 1.000: SEN = Thousand
  2. 10.000: MAN
  3. 100.000: JUU-MAN = 10 * 10.000
  4. 1.000.000: HYAKU-MAN = 100 * 10.000 = 1 Million
  5. 10.000.000: SEN-MAN = 1.000 * 10.000 = 10 Millions
  6. 100.000.000: OKU = 100 Millions
  7. 1.000.000.000: JUU-OKU = 1 Billion
  8. 10.000.000.000: KYAKU-OKU = 10 Billions
  9. 100.000.000.000: SEN-OKU = 100 Billions
  10. 1.000.000.000.000: MAN-OKU = 1 Trillion