Learning how to count to ten is probably something you learned very early on in your English language learning, but did you know that many of the numbers between 0-10 (and other important numbers in English) have special names? People don’t always use the traditional ‘counting names’ when using all numbers.

Here we are going to take a look at the different names that some English numbers have and how they are used. We will start small and move on to bigger numbers, so let’s start at the very beginning, with the number zero.

0: oh, zip, zilch, nil, goose egg

Examples:
I am so frustrated, I have zero patients left right now.
My street address is seven-oh-one (701).
There is zip, zilch, zero money left in my wallet.
The score is three-nil. (British English)
I got the big goose egg for my answer to the last question on the exam because I forgot to answer it.

1: one-and-only

Example:
This is my one-and-only brother.

2: couple, pair, deuce, duo

Examples:
I bought a couple of fish to make for dinner tonight.
There’s a pair of gloves on the table.
He rolled a deuce and it won him the game.
Paul and Erin are a happy duo.

3: a few, trio

Examples:
She bought a few loaves of bred.
Those girls always play together in a trio.

4: quartet

Example:
The jazz quartet played all night long.

6: half a dozen

Example:
The woman has half a dozen children.

12: dozen

Example:
Jill bought a dozen flowers.

13: baker’s dozen

Example:
A: How many cookies do you want?
B: I’ll take a baker’s dozen.

20: score

Examples:
“Four score and seven years ago…” – This is a famous line spoken by President Abraham Lincoln.
There are scores of birds in the sky.

50: half a century

Example:
I can’t believe I am now half a century old!

100: century

Example:
If my grandfather lives to be a century old he will be the oldest man in our town.

1000: a grand, K

Example:
I wish I made a grand a week at my job, but I only make $400.
Billy makes 30K a year at his job.

As you can see, there is more to numbers than just one, two three! Now that you have a few new ways to talk about the numbers: 0,1,2,3,4,6,12,13,20,50,100, and 1,000 see if you can work a few of these words into your everyday English vocabulary. Also, stay tuned for my next post in this November Numbers series.