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The system ofHebrew numerals is a quasi-decimalalphabetic numeral system using the letters of theHebrew alphabet.The system was adapted from that of theGreek numerals sometime between 200 and 78 BCE, the latter being the date of the earliest archeological evidence.[1]
The current numeral system is also known as theHebrew alphabetic numerals to contrast with earlier systems of writing numerals used in classical antiquity. These systems were inherited from usage in theAramaic andPhoenician scripts, attested fromc. 800 BCE in theSamaria Ostraca.
The Greek system was adopted inHellenistic Judaism and had been in use in Greece since about the 5th century BCE.[2]
In this system, there is no notation forzero, and the numeric values for individual letters are added together. Each unit (1–9) is assigned a separate letter, each tens (10–90) a separate letter, and the first four hundreds (100, 200, 300, 400) a separate letter. The later hundreds (500, 600, 700, 800 and 900) are represented by the sum of two or three letters representing the first four hundreds. To represent numbers from 1,000 to 999,999, the same letters are reused to serve as thousands, tens of thousands, and hundreds of thousands.Gematria, a type of Jewish numerology, uses these transformations extensively.
InIsrael today, the decimal system ofHindu–Arabic numeral system, such as 0, 1, 2, 3, etc., is used in almost all cases, such as money, age, date on thecivil calendar. The Hebrew numerals are used only in special cases, such as when using theHebrew calendar, or numbering a list, similar to a, b, c, d, etc., much asRoman numerals are used in the West.
The Hebrew language has names for common numbers that range from zero to one million. Letters of theHebrew alphabet are used to represent numbers in a few traditional contexts, such as in calendars. In other situations, numerals from theHindu–Arabic numeral system are used.Cardinal andordinal numbers must agree in gender with the noun they are describing. If there is no such noun (e.g., in telephone numbers), the feminine form is used. For ordinal numbers greater than ten, the cardinal is used. Multiples of ten above the value 20 have no gender (20, 30, 40, ... are genderless), unless the number has the digit 1 in the tens position (110, 210, 310, ...).
| Ordinal (English) | Ordinal (Hebrew) | |
|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | |
| First | (rishon)רִאשׁוֹן | (rishona)רִאשׁוֹנָה |
| Second | (sheni)שֵׁנִי | (shniya)שְׁנִיָּה |
| Third | (shlishi)שְׁלִישִׁי | (shlishit)שְׁלִישִׁית |
| Fourth | (revi'i)רְבִיעִי | (revi'it)רְבִיעִית |
| Fifth | (chamishi)חֲמִישִׁי | (chamishit)חֲמִישִׁית |
| Sixth | (shishi)שִׁשִּׁי | (shishit)שִׁשִּׁית |
| Seventh | (shvi'i)שְׁבִיעִי | (shvi'it)שְׁבִיעִית |
| Eighth | (shmini)שְׁמִינִי | (shminit)שְׁמִינִית |
| Ninth | (tshi'i)תְּשִׁיעִי | (tshi'it)תְּשִׁיעִית |
| Tenth | ('asiri)עֲשִׂירִי | ('asirit)עֲשִׂירִית |
Note: For ordinal numbers greater than 10, cardinal numbers are used instead.
| Hindu-Arabic numerals | Hebrew numerals | Cardinal (ex. one, two, three) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | ||
| 0 | (efes)אֶפֶס | ||
| 1 | א (alef) | (eḥadh)אֶחָד | (aḥath)אַחַת |
| 2 | ב (bet) | (shənayim)שְׁנַיִם | (shətayim)שְׁתַּיִם |
| 3 | ג (gimel) | (shəloshah)שְׁלֹושָׁה | (shalosh)שָׁלֹושׁ |
| 4 | ד (dalet) | (arəba'ah)אַרְבָּעָה | (arəba')אַרְבַּע |
| 5 | ה (he) | (ḥamisha)חֲמִשָּׁה | (ḥamesh)חָמֵשׁ |
| 6 | ו (vav) | (shishah)שִׁשָּׁה | (shesh)שֵׁשׁ |
| 7 | ז (zayin) | (shivə'ah)שִׁבְעָה | (sheva')שֶׁבַע |
| 8 | ח (ḥet) | (shəmonah)שְׁמוֹנָה | (shəmoneh)שְׁמוֹנֶה |
| 9 | ט (tet) | (tishə'ah)תִּשְׁעָה | (tesha')תֵּשַׁע |
| 10 | י (yod) | ('asara)עֲשָׂרָה | ('eser)עֶשֶׂר |
| 11 | יא | (aḥadh-'asar)אֲחַד-עָשָׂר | (aḥath-'esəreh)אֲחַת-עֶשְׂרֵה |
| 12 | יב | (shəneym-'asar)שְׁנֵים-עָשָׂר | (shəteym-'esreh)שְׁתֵּים-עֶשְׂרֵה |
| 13 | יג | (shəloshah-'asar)שְׁלֹושָה-עָשָׂר | (shəlosh-'esreh)שְׁלֹושׁ-עֶשְׂרֵה |
| 14 | יד | (arəba'ah-'asar)אַרְבָּעָה-עָשָׂר | (arəba'-'esreh)אַרְבַּע-עֶשְׂרֵה |
| 15 | ט״ו or י״ה | (ḥamishah-'asar)חֲמִשָּׁה-עָשָׂר | (ḥamesh-'esreh)חֲמֵשׁ-עֶשְׂרֵה |
| 16 | ט״ז or י״ו | (shishah-'asar)שִׁשָּׁה-עָשָׂר | (shesh-'esreh)שֵׁש-עֶשְׂרֵה |
| 17 | יז | (shivə'ah-'asar)שִׁבְעָה-עָשָׂר | (shəva'-'esreh)שְׁבַע-עֶשְׂרֵה |
| 18 | יח | (shəmonah-'asar)שְׁמוֹנָה-עָשָׂר | (shəmoneh-'esreh)שְמוֹנֶה-עֶשְׂרֵה |
| 19 | יט | (tishə'ah-'asar)תִּשְׁעָה-עָשָׂר | (təsha'-'esreh)תְּשַׁע-עֶשְׂרֵה |
| 20 | כ or ך (kaf) | ('esərim)עֶשְׂרִים | |
| 30 | ל (lamed) | (shəloshim)שְׁלֹושִׁים | |
| 40 | מ or ם (mem) | (arəba'im)אַרְבָּעִים | |
| 50 | נ or ן (nun) | (ḥamishim)חֲמִשִּׁים | |
| 60 | ס (samekh) | (shishim)שִׁשִּׁים | |
| 70 | ע ('ayin) | (shivə'im)שִׁבְעִים | |
| 80 | פ or ף (pe) | (shəmonim)שְׁמוֹנִים | |
| 90 | צ or ץ (tsadi) | (tishə'im)תִּשְׁעִים | |
| 100 | ק (qof) | (me'ah)מֵאָה | |
| 200 | ר (resh) | (ma'atayim)מָאתַיִם | |
| 300 | ש (shin) | (shəlosh me'oth)שְׁלֹושׁ מֵאוֹת | |
| 400 | ת (tav) | (arəba' me'oth)אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת | |
| 500 | ך | (ḥamesh me'oth)חֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת | |
| 600 | ם | (shesh me'oth)שֵׁשׁ מֵאוֹת | |
| 700 | ן | (shəva me'oth)שְׁבַע מֵאוֹת | |
| 800 | ף | (shəmone me'oth)שְׁמוֹנֶה מֵאוֹת | |
| 900 | ץ | (təsha' me'oth)תְּשַׁע מֵאוֹת | |
| 1000 | א׳ | (elef)אֶלֶף | |
| 2000 | ב׳ | (alpaym)אַלְפַּיִם | |
| 5000 | ה׳ | (ḥamesheth alafim)חֲמֵשֶׁת אֲלָפִים | |
| 10 000 | י׳ | (aseret alafim)עֲשֶׂרֶת אֲלָפִים or (revava)רְבָבָה or (ribbo)רִבּוֹא | |
| 100 000 | ק׳ | (mea elef)מֵאָה אֶלֶף or (aseret ribbo)עֲשֶׂרֶת רִבּוֹא | |
| 1 000 000 | | (miliyon)מִילְיוֹן or (mea ribbo)מֵאָה רִבּוֹא | |
| 10 000 000 | | (asara miliyon)עֲשָׂרָה מִילְיוֹן or (elef ribbo)אֶלֶף רִבּוֹא | |
| 100 000 000 | | (mea miliyon)מֵאָה מִילְיוֹן or (ribbo ribbo'ot)רִבּוֹא רִבּוֹאוֹת or (ribbo revavot)רִבּוֹא רְבָבוֹת | |
| 1 000 000 000 | | (miliyard)מִילְיַרְדּ | |
| 1 000 000 000 000 | | (trilyon)טְרִילְיוֹן | |
| 1015 | | (kwadrilyon)קְוַדְרִילְיוֹן | |
| 1018 | | (kwintilyon)קְוִינְטִילְיוֹן | |
Note: Officially, numbers greater than a million were represented by thelong scale. However, since January 21, 2013, the modifiedshort scale (under which the long scale milliard is substituted for the strict short scale billion), which was already the colloquial standard, became official.[3]
| Number | We masc. | We fem. | You masc. | You fem. | They masc. | They fem. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Two together | (shnenu)שְׁנֵינוּ | (shtenu)שְׁתֵּינוּ | (shnechem)שְׁנֵיכֶם | (shtechen)שְׁתֵּיכֶן | (shnehem)שְׁנֵיהֶם | (shtehen)שְׁתֵּיהֶן |
| Three together | (shloshtenu)שְׁלָשְׁתֵּנוּ | (shlosht'chem)שְׁלָשְׁתְּכֶם | (shlosht'chen)שְׁלָשְׁתְּכֶן | (shloshtam)שְׁלָשְׁתָּם | (shloshtan)שְׁלָשְׁתָּן | |
| Four together | (arba'tenu)אַרבַּעְתֵּנוּ | (arba'tchem)אַרבַּעְתְּכֶם | (arba'tchen)אַרבַּעְתְּכֶן | (arba'tam)אַרבַּעְתָּם | (arba'tan)אַרבַּעְתָּן | |
| Five together | (chamishtenu)חֲמִשְׁתֵּנוּ | (chamisht'chem)חֲמִשְׁתְּכֶם | (chamisht'chen)חֲמִשְׁתְּכֶן | (chamishtam)חֲמִשְׁתָּם | (chamishtan)חֲמִשְׁתָּן | |
| Six together | (shishtenu)שִׁשְׁתֵּנוּ | (shisht'chem)שִׁשְׁתְּכֶם | (shisht'chen)שִׁשְׁתְּכֶן | (shishtam)שִׁשְׁתָּם | (shishtan)שִׁשְׁתָּן | |
| Seven together | (shva'tenu)שְׁבַעְתֵּנוּ | (shva'tchem)שְׁבַעְתְּכֶם | (shva'tchen)שְׁבַעְתְּכֶן | (shva'tam)שְׁבַעְתָּם | (shva'tan)שְׁבַעְתָּן | |
| Eight together | (shmonatenu)שְׁמוֹנָתֵנוּ | (shmonatchem)שְׁמוֹנָתְכֶם | (shmonatchen)שְׁמוֹנָתְכֶן | (shmonatam)שְׁמוֹנָתָם | (shmonatan)שְׁמוֹנָתָן | |
| Nine together | (tsha'tenu)תְּשַׁעְתֵּנוּ | (tsha'tchem)תְּשַׁעְתְּכֶם | (tsha'tchen)תְּשַׁעְתְּכֶן | (tsha'tam)תְּשַׁעְתָּם | (tsha'tan)תְּשַׁעְתָּן | |
| Ten together | (asartenu)עֲשַׂרתֵּנוּ | (asart'chem)עֲשַׂרתְּכֶם | (asart'chen)עֲשַׂרתְּכֶן | (asartam)עֲשַׂרתָּם | (asartan)עֲשַׂרתָּן | |
Cardinal and ordinal numbers must agree in gender (masculine or feminine; mixed groups are treated as masculine) with the noun they are describing. If there is no such noun (e.g. a telephone number or a house number in a street address), the feminine form is used. Ordinal numbers must also agree in number and definite status like other adjectives. The cardinal number precedes the noun (e.g.,shlosha yeladim), except for the number one which succeeds it (e.g.,yeled echad). The number two is special:shnayim (m.) andshtayim (f.) becomeshney (m.) andshtey (f.) when followed by the noun they count. Forordinal numbers (numbers indicating position) greater than ten the cardinal is used.
The Hebrew numeric system operates on the additive principle in which the numeric values of the letters are added together to form the total. For example, 177 is represented asקעז which (from right to left) corresponds to 100 + 70 + 7 = 177.
Mathematically, this type of system requires 27 letters (1–9, 10–90, 100–900). In practice, the last letter,tav (which has the value 400), is used in combination with itself or other letters fromqof (100) onwards to generate numbers from 500 and above. Alternatively, the 22-letter Hebrew numeral set is sometimes extended to 27 by using 5sofit (final) forms of the Hebrew letters.[6]
By convention, the numbers 15 and 16 are represented asט״ו (9 + 6) andט״ז (9 + 7), respectively, in order to refrain from using the two-letter combinationsי-ה (10 + 5) andי-ו (10 + 6), which are alternate written forms for theName of God in everyday writing. In the calendar, this manifests everyfull moon since all Hebrew months start on anew moon (see for example:Tu BiShvat).
This convention developed sometimes in the Middle Ages, before that it was common to write 15 and 16 as י"ה and י"ו.[7][8]
Combinations which would spell out words with negative connotations are sometimes avoided by switching the order of the letters. For instance, 744 which should be written asתשמ״ד (meaning "you/it will be destroyed") might instead be written asתשד״מ orתמש״ד (meaning "end to demon").
The Hebrew numeral system has sometimes been extended to include the five final letter forms—ך for 500,ם for 600,ן for 700,ף for 800,ץ for 900. Usually though the final letter form are used with the same value as the regular letter form—ך for 20,ם for 40,ן for 50,ף for 80,ץ for 90.
The ordinary additive forms for 500 to 900 areת״ק,ת״ר,ת״ש,ת״ת andתת״ק.
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נפטר ביוםכׄ אייר
ונקבר ביוםכׄגׄ אייר
שנתתׄרׄצׄהׄ לפׄק
Passed away on day20 Iyar
And buried on day23 Iyar
Year695 without the thousands [i.e. year 5695]
Gershayim (U+05F4 inUnicode, and resembling adouble quote mark) (sometimes erroneously referred to asmerkha'ot, which is Hebrew for double quote) are inserted before (to the right of) the last (leftmost) letter to indicate that the sequence of letters represents something other than a word. This is used in the case where a number is represented by two or more Hebrew numerals (e.g., 28 →כ״ח).
Similarly, a singlegeresh (U+05F3 in Unicode, and resembling asingle quote mark) is appended after (to the left of) a single letter to indicate that the letter represents a number rather than a (one-letter) word. This is used in the case where a number is represented by a single Hebrew numeral (e.g. 100 →ק׳).
Note thatgeresh andgershayim merely indicate "not a (normal) word." Context usually determines whether they indicate a number or something else (such as anabbreviation).
When the number is used for chapters, verses, pages, lines, etc. there is no need to put on the number ageresh/gershayim.[9]
An alternative method found in old manuscripts and still found on modern-day tombstones is to put a dot above each letter of the number.
In print, Arabic numerals are employed in Modern Hebrew for most purposes. Hebrew numerals are used nowadays primarily for writing the days and years of theHebrew calendar; for references to traditional Jewish texts (particularly for Biblical chapter and verse and for Talmudic folios); for bulleted or numbered lists (similar toA,B,C,etc., in English); and in numerology (gematria).
Thousands are counted separately, and the thousands count precedes the rest of the number (to theright, since Hebrew is read from right to left). There are no special marks to signify that the "count" is starting over with thousands, which can theoretically lead to ambiguity, although a single quote mark is sometimes used after the letter. When specifying years of the Hebrew calendar in the present millennium, writers usually omit the thousands (which is presently 5 [ה]), but if they do not, this is accepted to mean 5,000, with no ambiguity. The current Israeli coinage includes the thousands.[clarification needed]
"Monday, 15 Adar 5764" (where 5764 = 5(×1000) + 400 + 300 + 60 + 4, and 15 = 9 + 6):
"Thursday, 3 Nisan 5767" (where 5767 = 5(×1000) + 400 + 300 + 60 + 7):
To see howtoday's date in theHebrew calendar is written, see, for example,Hebcal date converter.
5786 (2025–26) =תשפ״ו
5785 (2024–25) =ה׳תשפ״ה
5784 (2023–24) =ה׳תשפ״ד
5783 (2022–23) =ה׳תשפ״ג
...
5772 (2011–12) =ה׳תשע״ב
5771 (2010–11) =ה׳תשע״א
5770 (2009–10) =ה׳תש״ע
5769 (2008–09) =ה׳תשס״ט
...
5761 (2000–01) =ה׳תשס״א
5760 (1999–2000) =ה׳תש״ס
TheAbjad numerals are equivalent to the Hebrew numerals up to 400. TheGreek numerals differ from the Hebrew ones from 90 upwards because in theGreek alphabet there is no equivalent fortsade (צ).
