# Why do we abbreviate 'number' with 'no.?'

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2002, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540 "2002-07-05T20:18:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ravesaint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ravesaint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ravesaint)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540/1 "2002-07-05T20:18:07Z")

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“What’s your phone no.?”  
“I live in apartment no. 44.”

Huh?

There is no ‘O’ in number, so why does it get abbreviated ‘no’? Wouldn’t it make more sense to be ‘nu,’ or ‘nm’ or something else that has letters contained in the actual word?

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540/2 "2002-07-05T20:31:34Z")

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_Number_ comes to Modern English from the Middle English word _nombre_. This may not explain it, but comes close enough for me.

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**Author:** ![octothorpe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@octothorpe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octothorpe)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540/3 "2002-07-05T20:37:03Z")

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According to the **Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary _Tenth Edition_** , the word ‘number’ derives from the Middle English _nombre_ by way of the the Latin _numerus_; so, it appears possible that the abbreviation was in common usage before the parent underwent phonetic readjustment.

#

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**Author:** ![octothorpe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/b77776/32.png) [@octothorpe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octothorpe)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540/4 "2002-07-05T20:41:04Z")

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**KneadToKnow** ,  
If i could actually type at a rate exceeding 2wpm, i probably wouldn’t be so prone to be your 6 minute echo…

Regards,

#

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**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540/5 "2002-07-05T21:01:31Z")

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🙂

Thanks, **#**. I’ve been feelin’ pretty invisible lately in **GQ**.

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540/6 "2002-07-06T03:07:15Z")

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On a somewhat related note, we call that octothorpe symbol a Hash (a term the Us keep for the percent sign, for some reason) and it is used in place of the term “Number” sometimes.

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**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540/7 "2002-07-06T03:40:45Z")

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Thanks for the clarification, **GuanoLad**. I was starting to get confused.

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2002, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-abbreviate-number-with-no/117540/8 "2002-07-06T03:41:27Z")

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The abbreviation is for Italian _ **n** umer__o_\*\*. First and last letter in a word was once used to make abbreviations. The French, even though they have their own word _nombre_, still use the Italian word (they spell it _numéro_).