# Why is "number" sometimes abbreviated "no."?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-number-sometimes-abbreviated-no/238576>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 6, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-number-sometimes-abbreviated-no/238576 "2004-04-06T16:37:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-number-sometimes-abbreviated-no/238576/1 "2004-04-06T16:37:30Z")

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See thread title.

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-number-sometimes-abbreviated-no/238576/2 "2004-04-06T16:41:29Z")

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Latin _numero_, ablative of _numerus_, “number.”

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**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-number-sometimes-abbreviated-no/238576/3 "2004-04-06T16:47:19Z")

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Are you sure it isn’t from the French/Old English “nombre”.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-number-sometimes-abbreviated-no/238576/4 "2004-04-06T17:58:44Z")

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Just to throw a third option into the mix (but this time with a cite 😉 ) my dictionary says it’s from the French _numéro_.

Which is presumably from the Latin anyway.

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**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-number-sometimes-abbreviated-no/238576/5 "2004-04-06T21:15:33Z")

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The OED says it’s “post-classical Latin”. It was also originally written with a superscript “o”: N[sup]o[/sup] or n[sup]o[/sup].

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**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\
**Post date:** [April 6, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-number-sometimes-abbreviated-no/238576/6 "2004-04-06T22:18:11Z")

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Nice people (like me 😃 ) also underline the superscript O - although it looks horrible on a computer screen.