Traditional Igbo counting was by twenties. Echeruo records ogụ (or ọhụ) for 20 and nnụ for 400, a vigesimal system. The modern decimal system replaces them with combinations: iri abụọ “two tens” for 20 and nari anọ for 400. Numbers are joined with na “and”: iri na asaa is 17, while iri asaa is 70.
| Number | Igbo | Note |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | otu | also ofu in some dialects |
| 2 | abụọ | |
| 3 | atọ | |
| 4 | anọ | |
| 5 | ise | |
| 6 | isii | Echeruo prints isi |
| 7 | asaa | |
| 8 | asatọ | ịsafọ in Onitsha, Echeruo |
| 9 | itoolu, iteghete | two forms attested |
| 10 | iri | |
| 100 | nari | |
| 1,000 | puku | a loan; “originally several thousands” (Echeruo) |
| 1,000,000 | nde | listed by Echeruo and Okorochukwu |
| 1,000,000,000 | ijeri | literally “uncountable” (Echeruo) |
Ordinals use nke: nke mbụ first, nke abụọ second, nke atọ third. The clock is a modern borrowing: elekere “hour”, nkeji “minute”; “what time is it?” is Kedu ihe na-akụ ugbu a? (Okorochukwu).
The traditional week has four days: Eke, Orie, Afọ, Nkwọ, each also the name of a market. A week is izu; the seven-day “church week” is izu ụka and an eight-day “big week” is izu ukwu (Echeruo). Obia’s list of weekdays borrows English names (mọnde, tusude…) and only Sunday, ụbọchị ụka, is native; his list does not mention the four-day week. A month is ọnwa, “moon”, and a year is afọ. Echeruo gives the dry season as ọkọchị and the rainy season as udu mmiri.
Market-day names also become personal names. The prefix Oke-, Oko- plus a day gives men’s names such as Okeke (Eke), Okafọ (Afọ), Okonkwo (Nkwọ) and Okorie (Orie). Women’s names with Mgbe- (Mgbeafọ, Mgbeke) are noted by Echeruo as “no longer complimentary”.
Sources for this article
- Echeruo 2001, Appendix II, numerals; entries Eke, Orie, Afọ, Nkwọ, izu
- Obia 2020, numbers, time and days, pp. 9–19
- Okorochukwu 2020, large numerals, quantifying numbers, telling time