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Devanagari numerals
Symbols used for numbers in Devanagari
Symbols used for numbers in Devanagari
The Devanagari numerals are the symbols used to write numbers in the Devanagari script, predominantly used for northern Indian languages. They are used to write decimal numbers, instead of the Western Arabic numerals.
Table
In modern-era, languages like Hindi, Marathi and Nepali have adopted Devanagari as the standard script, before which they were respectively written using Kaithi, Modi and Newari scripts.
| Modern | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devanagari | rowspan="2" | Western | |||
| Arabic | Words for the cardinal number | Sanskrit | |||
| (wordstem) | Hindi | Marathi | Nepali | ||
| ० | 0 | शून्य () | शून्य () | शून्य () | शून्य (śūnya) — colloq.सुन्ना () |
| १ | 1 | एक (eka) | एक () | एक () | एक () |
| २ | 2 | द्वि () | दो () | दोन () | दुई () |
| ३ | 3 | त्रि () | तीन () | तीन () | तिन () |
| ४ | 4 | चतुर् () | चार () | चार () | चारि () |
| ५ | 5 | पञ्च () | पाँच () | पाच () | पाँच () |
| ६ | 6 | षष् () | छह () | सहा () | छ () |
| ७ | 7 | सप्त () | सात () | सात () | सात () |
| ८ | 8 | अष्ट () | आठ () | आठ () | आठ () |
| ९ | 9 | नव () | नौ () | नऊ () | नौ () |
The word for zero was calqued into Arabic as صفر sifr, meaning 'nothing', which became the term "zero" in many European languages via Medieval Latin zephirum. In Hindustani language, it was borrowed from Arabic (via Persian) as सिफ़र ().
Variants
Devanagari digits shapes may vary depending on geographical area or epoch. Some of the variants are also seen in older Sanskrit literature.
| १ | ५ | ८ | ९ |
|---|---|---|---|
| [[File:Devanagari Numeral 1 var 1.png | x27px]] | ||
| Common | [[File:Devanagari Numeral 1 var 2.png | x26px]] | |
| Nepali | 1 | ||
| [[File:Devanagari Numeral 5 var 1.png | x26px]] | ||
| "Bombay" Variant | [[File:Devanagari Numeral 5 var 2.png | x24px]] | |
| "Calcutta" Variant | 5 | ||
| [[File:Devanagari Numeral 8 var 1.png | x22px]] | ||
| "Bombay" Variant | [[File:Devanagari Numeral 8 var 2.png | x18px]] | |
| "Calcutta" Variant | 8 | ||
| [[File:Devanagari Numeral 9 var 1.png | x26px]] | ||
| Common | [[File:Devanagari Numeral 9 var 2.png | x24px]] | |
| Nepali Variant | 9 |
In Nepali language ५, ८, ९ (5, 8, 9) - these numbers are slightly different from modern Devanagari numbers. In Nepali language uses old Devanagari system for writing these numbers, like ५, ८, ९
References
;Notes ;Sources
References
- "शून्य (Shoony) का तद्भव - Hindi Tutor".
- (28 February 2021). "सुन्ना".
- "zero - Origin and meaning of zero by Online Etymology Dictionary".
- [https://mirrors.ctan.org/language/devanagari/velthuis/doc/manual.pdf Devanagari for TEX version 2.17], page 22
- "Alternate digits in Devanagari". Scriptsource.org.
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