Ordinal indicator
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In written languages, an ordinal indicator is a character, or group of characters, following a numeral denoting that it is an ordinal number, rather than a cardinal number. Historically these letters were "elevated terminals", that is to say the last few letters of the full word denoting the ordinal form of the number displayed as a superscript. Probably originating with Latin scribes, the character(s) used vary in different languages.
In English orthography, this corresponds to the suffixes Template:Nbhst, Template:Nbhnd, Template:Nbhrd, Template:Nbhth in written ordinals (represented either on the line 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th or as superscript Template:Notatypo). Also commonly encountered in Romance languages are the superscript or superior (and often underlined) masculine ordinal indicator, Template:Char, and feminine ordinal indicator, Template:Char. In formal typography, the ordinal indicators Template:Char and Template:Char are distinguishable from other characters.<ref name="mstyp">Template:Cite web</ref>
The practice of underlined (or doubly underlined) superscripted abbreviations was common in 19th-century writing (not limited to ordinal indicators in particular, and extant in the numero sign Template:Char), and was found in handwritten English until at least the late 19th century (e.g. first abbreviated Template:Notatypo or 1Template:Double underline).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Usage
In Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Galician, the ordinal indicators Template:Char and Template:Char are appended to the numeral depending on whether the grammatical gender is masculine or feminine. The indicator may be given an underline but this is not ubiquitous. In digital typography, this depends on the font: Cambria and Calibri, for example, have underlined ordinal indicators, while most other fonts do not.
Examples of the usage of ordinal indicators in Italian are:
- Template:Lang; Template:Lang "first"
- Template:Lang; Template:Lang "second"
- Template:Lang; Template:Lang "third"
Galician also forms its ordinal numbers this way,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while Asturian follows a similar system where Template:Char is used for the masculine gender, Template:Char for the feminine gender and Template:Char for the neuter gender.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
In Spanish, using the two final letters of the word as it is spelled is not allowed,<ref>Template:Citation.</ref> except in the cases of Template:Lang (an apocope of Template:Lang) before singular masculine nouns, which is not abbreviated as Template:Lang but as Template:Lang, of Template:Lang (an apocope of Template:Lang) before singular masculine nouns, which is not abbreviated as Template:Lang but as Template:Lang, and of compound ordinal numbers ending in Template:Lang or Template:Lang. For instance, "twenty-first" is Template:Lang before a masculine noun, and its abbreviation is Template:Lang. Since none of these words are shortened before feminine nouns, their correct forms for those cases are Template:Lang and Template:Lang. These can be represented as Template:Lang and Template:Lang. As with other abbreviations in Spanish, the ordinal numbers have a period ".", which is placed before the indicator. Portuguese follows the same method.<ref>Template:Citation.</ref>
Origins
The practice of indicating ordinals with superscript suffixes may originate with the practice of writing a superscript o to indicate a Latin ablative in pre-modern scribal practice. This ablative desinence happened to be frequently combined with ordinal numerals indicating dates (as in Template:Lang [written Template:Lang] "on the third day" or in Anno Domini years, as in Template:Lang [written Template:Char or similarly] "in the thousandth [...] year after the incarnation of our lord Jesus Christ").Template:Cn
The usage of terminals in the vernacular languages of Europe derives from Latin usage, as practised by scribes in monasteries and chanceries before writing in the vernacular became established. The terminal letters used depend on the gender of the item to be ordered and the case in which the ordinal adjective is stated, for example Template:Lang ('the first day', nominative case, masculine), but Template:Lang ('on the first day', ablative case masculine), shown as Io or io. As monumental inscriptions often refer to days on which events happened (e.g., "he died on the tenth of June"), the ablative case is generally used: Xo (Template:Lang) with the month stated in the genitive case. Examples:<ref>Kennedy's Shorter Latin Primer, 1992, London, pp.28-9</ref>
- Io Template:Lang "on the first day of July"
- Xo Template:Lang
- XXo Template:Lang
- Lo Template:Lang
- Co Template:Lang
- Mo Template:Lang
Design
The masculine ordinal indicator Template:Char may be confused with the degree sign Template:Char (U+00B0), which looks very similar and which is provided on the Italian and Latin American keyboard layouts. It was common in the early days of computers to use the same character for both.Template:Cn The degree sign is a uniform circle and is never underlined. The masculine ordinal indicator is the shape of a lower-case letter Template:Char, and thus may be oval or elliptical, and may have a varying line thickness.
Ordinal indicators may also be underlined. It is not mandatory in Portugal<ref>Sobrescritos sublinhados em ordinais, Ciberdúvisas da língua portuguesa</ref> nor in Brazil,<ref>Abreviatura da Palavra Número, Abreviar.com.br</ref><ref>Numerais ordinais, Museu Língua Portuguesa</ref><ref>Numerais ordinais, Todo Estudo</ref> but it is preferred in some fonts to avoid confusion with the degree sign.<ref name="mstyp" />
Also, the ordinal indicators should be distinguishable from superscript characters. The top of the ordinal indicators (i.e., the top of the elevated letter Template:Char and letter Template:Char) must be aligned<ref name="mstyp" /> with the cap height of the font. The alignment of the top of superscripted letters Template:Char and Template:Char will depend on the font.
The line thickness of the ordinal indicators is always proportional to the line thickness of the other characters of the font. Many fonts just shrink the characters (making them thinner) to draw superscripts. Template:Clear
Encoding
The Romance feminine and masculine ordinal indicators were added to many 8-bit character sets designed to support European languages, such as CP437. In 1985 the ECMA-94 encoding ISO 8859-1 placed them at positions 170 (xAA) and 186 (xBA). ISO 8859-1 was incorporated as the first 256 code points of Unicode in 1991. The Unicode characters are thus:
There are [[Unicode subscripts and superscripts|superscript versions of the letters Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr in Unicode]]; these are different characters and should not be used as ordinal indicators.
Typing
Template:Further Portuguese and Spanish keyboard layouts are the only ones on which the characters are directly accessible through a dedicated key: Template:Key press for "º" and Template:Key press for "ª". On other keyboard layouts, these characters are accessible only through a set of keystrokes (see Unicode input).
Ordinal dot
In Basque, Serbo-Croatian, Czech, Danish, Estonian, Faroese, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Latvian, Norwegian, Slovak, Slovene, Turkish, among other languages, a period or full stop is written after the numeral. In Polish, the period can be omitted if there is no ambiguity whether a given numeral is ordinal or cardinal. The only exceptions are variables in mathematics (Template:Lang – Template:Lang).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Writing out the endings for various cases, as sometimes happens in Czech and Slovak, is considered incorrect and uneducated. Should a full stop follow this dot, it is omitted.
The Serbian standard of Serbo-Croatian (unlike the Croatian and Bosnian standards) uses the dot in role of the ordinal indicator only past Arabic numerals, while Roman numerals are used without a dot.
There is a problem with autocorrection, mobile editors, etc., which often force a capital initial letter in the word following the ordinal numbers.
Other suffixes
English
- -st is used with numbers ending in 1 (e.g. 1st, pronounced first)
- -nd is used with numbers ending in 2 (e.g. 92nd, pronounced ninety-second)
- -rd is used with numbers ending in 3 (e.g. 33rd, pronounced thirty-third)
- As an exception to the above rules, numbers ending with 11, 12, and 13 use -th (e.g. 11th, pronounced eleventh, 112th, pronounced one hundred [and] Template:Not a typoth)
- -th is used for all other numbers (e.g. 9th, pronounced ninth).
- One archaic variant uses a singular -d for numbers ending in 2 or 3 (e.g. 92d or 33d)
In 19th-century handwriting, these terminals were often elevated, that is to say written as superscripts (e.g. Template:Notatypo). With the gradual introduction of the typewriter in the late 19th century, it became common to write them on the baseline in typewritten texts,<ref>e.g. Max Harold Fisch, Christian J. W. Kloesel, "Essay on the Editorial Method", in Writings of Charles S. Peirce: 1879-1884, vol. 4 (1989), p. 629:
"In all MSS in this period, Peirce inscribed "st," "nd," "rd," and "th" in the superscript position: for convenience's sake, they are on the line in typewritten pieces. In published pieces the ordinals are superscripted to conform to Peirce's style; Template:Notatypo are emended to "2nd" and "3rd". When Peirce typed abbreviated ordinals on the line, these mechanical exceptions attributable to his typewriter have been changed to superscript ordinals."</ref> and this usage even became recommended in certain 20th-century style guides. Thus, the 17th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style states: "The letters in ordinal numbers should not appear as superscripts (e.g., 122nd not Template:Notatypo)", as do the Bluebook<ref name="TforL"/> and style guides by the Council of Science Editors,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Microsoft,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Yahoo.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Two problems are that superscripts are used "most often in citations" and are "tiny and hard to read".<ref name="TforL">Template:Cite web</ref> Some word processors format ordinal indicators as superscripts by default (e.g. Microsoft Word<ref>Template:Citation.</ref>). Style guide author Jack Lynch (Rutgers) recommends turning off automatic superscripting of ordinals in Microsoft Word, because "no professionally printed books use superscripts".<ref>Template:Cite book
Template:Cite web</ref>
French
French uses the ordinal indicators Template:Lang and Template:Lang for the number 1, depending on gender (masculine Template:Lang; feminine Template:Lang). It uses Template:Lang for higher numbers (for instance Template:Lang). French also uses the indicators Template:Lang and Template:Lang for the alternative second ordinal number (masculine Template:Lang; feminine Template:Lang). In plural, all these indicators are suffixed with an s: Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Template:Lang (Template:Lang).
Although regarded as incorrect by typographic standards, longer forms are in wide usage: Template:Lang for feminine 1 (Template:Lang)), Template:Lang for numbers starting at 2 (for instance Template:Lang), Template:Lang and Template:Lang for the alternative second ordinal number (Template:Lang; Template:Lang)
These indicators use superscript formatting whenever it is available.
Catalan
The rule in Catalan is to follow the number with the last letter in the singular and the last two letters in the plural.<ref>Template:Citation.</ref> Most numbers follow the pattern exemplified by Template:Lang '20' (Template:Lang Template:Abbr Template:Abbr, Template:Lang Template:Abbr Template:Abbr, Template:Lang Template:Abbr Template:Abbr, Template:Lang Template:Abbr Template:Abbr), but the first few ordinals are irregular, affecting the abbreviations of the masculine forms. Superscripting is not standard.
Dutch
Unlike other Germanic languages, Dutch is similar to English in this respect: the French layout with Template:Char used to be popular, but the recent spelling changes now prescribe the suffix Template:Lang. Optionally Template:Lang and Template:Lang may be used, but this is more complex: Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Template:Lang (Template:Lang), Template:Lang (Template:Lang), etc.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Finnish
In Finnish orthography, when the numeral is followed by its head noun (which indicates the grammatical case of the ordinal), it is sufficient to write a period or full stop after the numeral: Template:Lang "In the competition, I finished in 2nd place". However, if the head noun is omitted, the ordinal indicator takes the form of a morphological suffix, which is attached to the numeral with a colon. In the nominative case, the suffix is Template:Lang for 1 and 2, and Template:Lang for larger numerals: Template:Lang 'I came 2nd, and my brother came 3rd'. This is derived from the endings of the spelled-out ordinal numbers: Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, etc..
The system becomes rather complicated when the ordinal needs to be inflected, as the ordinal suffix is adjusted according to the case ending: Template:Lang (nominative case, which has no ending), Template:Lang (genitive case with ending Template:Lang), Template:Lang (partitive case with ending Template:Lang), Template:Lang (inessive case with ending Template:Lang), Template:Lang (illative case with ending Template:Lang), etc.. Even native speakers sometimes find it difficult to exactly identify the ordinal suffix, as its borders with the word stem and the case ending may appear blurred. In such cases, it may be preferable to write the ordinal word entirely with letters and particularly Template:Lang is rare even in the nominative case, as it is not significantly shorter than the full word Template:Lang.
Irish
Numerals from 3 up form their ordinals uniformly by adding the suffix Template:Lang: Template:Lang, Template:Lang, Template:Lang, etc. When the ordinal is written out, the suffix adheres to the spelling restrictions imposed by the broad/slender difference in consonants and is written Template:Lang after slender consonants; but when written as numbers, only the suffix itself (Template:Lang) is written. In the case of 4 (Template:Lang), the final syllable is syncopated before the suffix, and in the case of 9 (Template:Lang), 20 (Template:Lang), and 1000 (Template:Lang), the final vowel is assimilated into the suffix.
Most multiples of ten end in a vowel in their cardinal form and form their ordinal form by adding the suffix to their genitive singular form, which ends in Template:Lang; this is not reflected in writing. Exceptions are 20 (Template:Lang) and 40 (Template:Lang), both of which form their ordinals by adding the suffix directly to the cardinal (Template:Lang and Template:Lang).
When counting objects, Template:Lang (2) becomes Template:Lang and Template:Lang (4) becomes Template:Lang.
As in French, the vigesimal system is widely used, particularly in people's ages. Template:Lang – 95.
The numbers 1 (Template:Lang) and 2 (Template:Lang) both have two separate ordinals: one regularly formed by adding Template:Lang (Template:Lang, Template:Lang), and one suppletive form (Template:Lang, Template:Lang). The regular forms are restricted in their usage to actual numeric contexts, when counting. The latter are also used in counting, especially Template:Lang, but are used in broader, more abstract senses of "first" and "second" (or "other"). In their broader senses, Template:Lang and Template:Lang are not written as Template:Lang and Template:Lang, though Template:Lang and Template:Lang may in a numeric context be read aloud as Template:Lang and Template:Lang (e.g., Template:Lang may be read as Template:Lang or as Template:Lang).
Russian
Template:Further One or two letters of the spelled-out numeral are appended to it (either after a hyphen or, rarely, in superscript). The rule is to take the minimal number of letters that include at least one consonant phoneme. Examples: Template:Lang Template:IPA, Template:Lang Template:IPA, Template:Lang Template:IPA (note that in the second example, the vowel letter Template:Lang represents two phonemes, one of which [[[:Template:IPA]]] is consonant).
Swedish
Template:Further The general rule is that Template:Lang (for 1 and 2) or Template:Lang (for all other numbers, except Template:Lang, Template:Lang, etc., but including Template:Lang and Template:Lang) is appended to the numeral. The reason is that Template:Lang and Template:Lang respectively end the ordinal number words. The ordinals for 1 and 2 may however be given an Template:Lang form (Template:Lang and Template:Lang instead of Template:Lang and Template:Lang) when used about a male person (masculine natural gender), and if so they are written Template:Lang and Template:Lang. When indicating dates, suffixes are never used. Examples: Template:Lang "first grade (in elementary school)", Template:Lang "third edition", but Template:Lang. Furthermore, suffixes can be left out if the number obviously is an ordinal number, example: Template:Lang "3rd ed". Using a full stop as an ordinal indicator is considered archaic, but still occurs in military contexts; for example: Template:Lang "5th company".
Prefix
Numbers in Malay and Indonesian are preceded by the ordinal prefix Template:Lang; for example, Template:Lang "seventh". The exception is Template:Lang, which means "first".
Numbers in Filipino are preceded by the ordinal prefix Template:Lang or Template:Lang (the latter subject to sandhi; for example, Template:Lang or Template:Lang "seventh"). The exception is Template:Lang, which means "first".
In Chinese and Japanese, an ordinal number is formed when a numeral is preceded by the character Template:Hani (pronounced Template:Transliteration in Mandarin Chinese, Template:Transliteration in Japanese): for example, Template:Hani "first", Template:Hani "second". This is a typical character, not a special ordinal indicator, and unlike in European languages, it is also not an abbreviation.
In Korean, an ordinal number is prefixed by Template:Lang Template:Lang or suffixed by Template:Lang Template:Lang: for example, Template:Lang "first", Template:Lang "second".
Uses not related to numbers
In Spanish, superior letters (Template:Langx) are commonly used to shorten some words,<ref name="dpd">Template:Cite book</ref> such as Template:Lang for Template:Lang ('administrator'), Template:Lang for Template:Lang ('tax'), Template:Lang for Template:Lang ('approved'), Template:Lang for Template:Lang (an honorific), and Template:Lang for Template:Lang (a Spanish name frequently used in compounds like Template:Lang). When a lone o or a is the raised letter, the masculine or feminine ordinal indicator may be used for this purpose, which may or may not be considered correct.
Portuguese also forms some abbreviations in the same manner, such as Template:Lang for Template:Lang (an honorific), Template:Lang for Template:Lang ('Ltd.'), and Template:Lang for Template:Lang ('Ms.').
In both Spanish and Portuguese, abbreviations formed this way have a period between the last regular letter and the first raised letter. Traditionally, the raised letters are underlined, but this is optional and less frequent today.
In English:
- Abbreviations such as "answd" for "answered"<ref>Commonly used abbreviations, Papers of the War Department, 1784-1800</ref> and "Jos" for "Joseph"<ref>First Name Abbreviations</ref> were commonly used in English-language handwritten letters and records prior to the 20th century.
- English has borrowed the No. abbreviation from the Romance-language word Template:Lang, which itself derives from the Latin word Template:Lang, the ablative case of the word Template:Lang "number".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This is sometimes written as No, with the superscript o optionally underlined, or sometimes with the ordinal indicator. In this case the ordinal indicator would simply represent the letter o in Template:Lang; see numero sign.
See also
References
Template:Notelist-ua Template:Reflist