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󰁘󰀷󰀮󰀰 | Òǹkà | Numerals

Yorùbá numerals

The Yorùbá numeral system can be complex for those who are only familiar with the Indic numeral system. Many reformers have proposed newer ways of expressing numbers; however, these have largely failed to gain traction in everyday speech and writing (with the exception of terms for thousands through billions developed by science in Yoruba, which has been included). This numeral writing system is simply a method of making numbers easier to learn and write without changing or removing any existing elements. Instead, it provides learners with mnemonic cues to support their understanding. In short, the written form serves as a shorthand for visualizing and codifying Yorùbá numerals, to be read as they are spoken. There are two forms of writing the numbers just as there are two ways of saying numbers in speech, cardinal (Òǹkà iye) and ordinal (òǹkà ipò).

We turn a number from cardinal to ordinal by simply adding a dot on top of the number. To turn numbers of more than digit ten to ordinal numbers, you add the dot on the last letter.