Why is 2.22 pm the only time that can be described as “quadrillion, trillion, billion and a half” in the English language?
The answer to this question comes down to how words are written and pronounced in different languages.
Pronunciation of numbers
There are several ways that numbers can be pronounced in English. For example, we have cardinal numbers which are used for counting objects, ordinal numbers for ordering them and fractional numbers for describing fractions or parts of things.
Cardinal numbers (1, 2, 3 etc.) are written using digits from 0 to 9. Ordinal numbers (first, second, third etc.) are written using Arabic numerals but with a suffix like ‘st’ or ‘nd’. Fractional numbers (1/2 or ¼) are usually written as two digits with a slash between them.
In other languages like French or German the pronunciation of fractional words is different from cardinal or ordinal words.
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“Cardinal” number
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“Ordinal” number
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“Fractional” number
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|---|---|---|
| English | ||
| French | ||
| German | ||
