Ordinal indicator
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224338025
2008-07-08T12:13:51Z
212.99.122.98
:''º redirects here. It is not to be confused with the [[degree symbol]] °.
In written languages, an '''ordinal indicator''' is a sign adjacent to a numeral denoting that it is an [[Ordinal numbers (linguistics)|ordinal number]], rather than a [[Names of numbers in English#Cardinal numbers|cardinal number]]. The exact sign used varies in different languages.
==Usage==
=== [[English language|English]] ===
:The suffixes ''-st'' (e.g. 21st), ''-nd'' or ''-d'' (e.g. 22nd or 22d), ''-rd'' or ''-d'' (e.g. 23rd or 23d), and ''-th'' (e.g. 24th) are used. Formerly, these indicators were [[superscript]]s (2<sup>nd</sup>, 34<sup>th</sup>) but by the late 20th century, formatting them on the line was favoured. The superscript style has, since the 1990s, been revived somewhat as some [[word processor]]s format ordinal indicators as superscripts automatically.
=== [[French language|French]] ===
:The suffixes ''<sup>-er</sup>'' (e.g. {{lang|fr|''1<sup>er</sup> — premier''}}), ''<sup>-re</sup>'' (e.g. {{lang|fr|''1<sup>re</sup> — première''}}), and ''<sup>-e</sup>'' (e.g. {{lang|fr|2<sup>e</sup> — ''deuxième''}}). These indicators use superscript formatting whenever it is available.
=== [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ===
:Unlike other Germanic languages, Dutch is similar to English in this respect: the French layout with ''<sup>-e</sup>'' used to be popular, but [[Dutch orthography|the recent spelling changes]] now prescribe the suffix ''-e''. Optionally ''-ste'' and ''-de'' may be used.
=== [[Danish language|Danish]], [[Finnish language|Finnish]], [[German language|German]], [[Hungarian language|Hungarian]], [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]], [[Turkish language|Turkish]] <!-- , Polish(?), Swedish(?), ... --> ===
:A period or [[full stop]] is written after the numeral. The same usage, apparently borrowed from German, is now a standard in [[Polish language|Polish]], where it replaced the superscript of the last phoneme (following complex declension and gender patterns, e.g., {{lang|pl|1-szy}}, {{lang|pl|7-ma}}, {{lang|pl|24-te}}, {{lang|pl|100-ny}}; use of such contractions is considered an error).
=== [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] ===
:The suffixes ''<sup>-o</sup>'' and ''<sup>-a</sup>'' are appended to the numeral depending on whether the number's [[grammatical gender]] is masculine or feminine respectively. As with French, these signs are preferably superscripted, but in contrast, they are often [[underline]]d as well. Some [[character set]]s provide characters specifically for use as ordinal indicators in these languages: º and ª (in [[Unicode]] U+00BA and U00AA<ref>[http://unicode.org/charts/PDF/U0080.pdf Unicode Latin-1 Punctuation code chart]</ref>). The masculine ordinal indicator U+00BA (º) is often confused with the [[degree sign]] U+00B0 (°), which looks very similar in many fonts. The degree sign is a uniform circle and is never underlined, while the letter ''o'' may be [[oval]] or [[elliptical]] and have a varying stroke width. The letter ''o'' may also be underlined.
:In Spanish, {{lang|es|''primer''}} (an adjective form of {{lang|es|''primero''}}) before singular masculine nouns, is not abbreviated as {{lang|es|''1º''}} but as {{lang|es|''1<sup>er</sup>''}}. The same happens with {{lang|es|''tercer''}} (an adjective form of {{lang|es|''tercero''}}) before singular masculine nouns, which is not abbreviated as {{lang|es|''3º''}} but as {{lang|es|''3<sup>er</sup>''}}
=== [[Irish language|Irish]] ===
The suffix ''<sup>-ú</sup>'' is appended to all numerals, ''1<sup>ú</sup>, 2<sup>ú</sup>, 3<sup>ú</sup> 4<sup>ú</sup>'' etc., even though the written form does not simply attach the suffix ''-ú'' to all numbers, i.e.
* a haon - chéad - 1<sup>ú</sup>
* a dó - dara - 2<sup>ú</sup>
* a trí - tríú - 3<sup>ú</sup>
* a ceathair - ceathrú - 4<sup>ú</sup>
* a cúig - cúigiú - 5<sup>ú</sup>
It is planned to remove this inaccurate suffix{{Fact|date=March 2008}}, i.e. ''1<sup>ú</sup> Samhain'' (1st November) will become simply ''1 Samhain''.
==Similar conventions==
Some languages use [[superior letter]]s as a typographic convention for abbreviations that aren't related to ordinal numbers — the letters ''o'' and ''a'' may be among those used, but they don't indicate ordinals:
: Spanish uses the indicator letters in some abbreviations, such as {{lang|es|''Vº Bº''}} for {{lang|es|''visto bueno''}} ("approved"); and {{lang|es|''Mª''}} for {{lang|es|''[[Maria (given name)|Maria]]''}}, a [[Spanish name]] frequently used in compounds like {{lang|es|''[[José María|José Mª]]''}}.<!--what about other letters?-->
: In Portuguese, the underlined "º" and "ª" are used with many abbreviations, and should be preceded by a period. In fact, there is no limit for which words may be abbreviated this way. Sometimes, other letters are also written before the "º" or "ª". For example: {{lang|pt|''Ex.<sup><u>mo</u></sup>''}} for {{lang|pt|''Excelentíssimo''}} (a very formal prefix to the name), {{lang|pt|''L.<sup><u>da</u></sup>''}} for {{lang|pt|''Limitada''}} ([[Ltd.]]), {{lang|pt|''Sr.<sup><u>a</u></sup>''}} for {{lang|pt|''Senhora''}} ([[Ms.]]), etc.
: English has borrowed the "No." abbreviation from the Spanish word {{lang|es|''número''}}, applying it as an abbreviation for the English word "number". This is sometimes written as "Nº", with raised ''o'' optionally underlined; see [[numero sign]].
Use of the ordinal-indicating Unicode characters for these kinds of abbreviations is a matter of preference, but can be misleading; the "º" in "Nº", for example, is not intended to indicate ordinality at all.<!--does Unicode take a position on whether it's really OK to use these characters for non-ordinal abbreviations?-->
==See also==
* [[Numero sign]]
* [[superior letter]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
* [http://woordenlijst.org/leidraad/6/9/ Dutch number words]
[[Category:Symbols]]
[[fr:Indicateur_ordinal]]
[[it:ª]]