Cyrillic numerals

The Cyrillic numerals are a numeral system derived from the Cyrillic script, developed in the First Bulgarian Empire in the late tenth century. It was used by the First Bulgarian Empire and by South and East Slavic peoples. The system was used in Russia as late as the early 18th century when Peter the Great replaced it with Arabic numerals. The Cyrillic numerals may still be found in books written in the Church Slavonic language.

General description

Tower clock with Cyrillic numerals, in Suzdal

The system is quasidecimal, basically the Ionian numeral system written with the corresponding graphemes of the Cyrillic script. The order is based on the original Greek alphabet and does not correspond to the different standard Cyrillic alphabetical orders. A separate letter is assigned to each unit (1, 2,... 9), each multiple of ten (10, 20,... 90) and each multiple of one hundred (100, 200,... 900).

The numbers are written as pronounced in Slavonic, generally from high value position to low value position, with the exception of 11 through 19, which are pronounced and written units before tens. For example, 17 is "семнадсять", "s'em'-na-d's'at'" ("seven-on-ten", compare English seven-teen). To cipher a Cyrillic number, one has to add all the figures. To distinguish numbers from text, a titlo (   ҃ ) is drawn over the numbers. If the number exceeds 1000, the thousands sign ( ҂ ) is drawn before the figure, and the thousands figure are written with a letter assigned to the units. To produce larger numbers, a numeral can be enclosed in a modifying sign: a ten-thousands sign (    ⃝ ), a hundred-thousands sign (    ҈ ), a millions sign (    ҉ ), a ten-millions sign (    ꙰ ), a hundred-millions sign (    ꙱ ) or a billions sign (    ꙲ ).

Examples:

• – 1706
• – 7118

Glagolitic numerals work similarly except that numeric values are assigned according to the native alphabetic order of the Glagolitic alphabet rather than inherited from the order of the Greek alphabet.

Computing codes

character	҃		҂		⃝		҈
Unicode name	COMBINING CYRILLIC TITLO		CYRILLIC THOUSANDS SIGN		COMBINING ENCLOSING CIRCLE (Cyrillic combining ten thousands sign)		COMBINING CYRILLIC HUNDRED THOUSANDS SIGN
character encoding	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex
Unicode	1155	0483	1154	0482	8413	20DD	1160	0488
UTF-8	210 131	D2 83	210 130	D2 82	226 131 157	E2 83 9D	210 136	D2 88
Numeric character reference	҃	҃	҂	҂	⃝	&#20DD;	҈	҈

character	҉		꙰		꙱		꙲
Unicode name	COMBINING CYRILLIC MILLIONS SIGN		COMBINING CYRILLIC TEN MILLIONS SIGN		COMBINING CYRILLIC HUNDRED MILLIONS SIGN		COMBINING CYRILLIC THOUSAND MILLIONS SIGN
character encoding	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex	decimal	hex
Unicode	1161	0489	42608	A670	42609	A671	42610	A672
UTF-8	210 137	D2 89	234 153 176	EA 99 B0	234 153 177	EA 99 B1	234 153 178	EA 99 B2
Numeric character reference	҉	҉	꙰	꙰	꙱	꙱	꙲	꙲

See also

• Early Cyrillic alphabet
• Glagolitic alphabet
• Greek numerals
• Combining Cyrillic Millions

References

• Гаманович, Алипий (1984) [1964]. Grammar of the Church Slavonic Language. Jordanville, NY: Printshop of St. Job of Pochaev. p. 271. ISBN 9780884650645.