Xhosa-English Dictionary





Word Of The Day
inyonga
English
: hip

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Numbers

It seems that it would make more sense to have the numbers listed in numerical order than in alphabetical order. Numbers are interesting in isiXhosa; with the numbers one through six, the adjective form represents cardinal numbers (one, two, three), while the noun forms represents ordinal numbers (first, second, third...). For numbers above six, only the noun form exists, which means the word for seven is the same as the word for seventh. It should be noted that many native speakers use the English words for numbers, especially larger numbers.

NumberNoun formAdjective form
1isinyenye
2isibinibini
3isithathuthathu
4isinene
5isihlanuhlanu
6isithandathuthandathu
7isixhenxe
8isibhozo
9ithoba
10ishumi
NumberNoun Form
11ishumi elinanye
12ishumi elinambini
20amashumi amabini
24amashumi amabini anane
30amashumi amathathu
40amashumi amane
50amashumi amahlanu
60amashumi asithandathu
70amashumi asixhenxe
80amashumi anesibhozo
90amashumi alithoba
100ikhulu
1,000iwaka
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