Appendix:English ordinal numbers

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English has several series of ordinal numbers, representing position in a sequence: a main series of commonly used adjectives, beginning first, second, third; a series of Latinate adjectives, beginning primary, secondary; and a series of Greek prefixes, beginning proto-, deutero-.

The main series is formed regularly from lower cardinal numbers, starting with the single digits, by replacing the last word with the corresponding ordinal (e.g., “twenty-first”, “hundred-twentieth”), or suffixing -th to a single word (e.g., tenth), or -eth for the multiples of ten ending in -y (e.g., twentieth). The Latinate series is formed from Latin numbers, but numbers above tertiary are very rare, and frequently confused with arities, which also end in -ary but are based on Latin distributive numbers, not ordinal numbers. The Greek series is quite technical, and obscure beyond deutero-, which is itself uncommon.

Common Latinate Grecian
first primary proto-
second secondary deutero-
third tertiary trito-
fourth quartary tetarto-
fifth quintary pempto-
sixth sextary ecto-
seventh septimary ebdomo-
eighth octavary ogdo-
ninth nonary enato-
tenth decimary decato-
eleventh undecimary endecato-
twelfth duodecimary dodecato-

See also

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