How does counting work?
1,859 languages with data
Most languages count in tens. Traces of twenties survive in French (quatre-vingts, 4×20 = 80), Danish, Basque and the Mayan languages; some languages of New Guinea count along the body — fingers, wrist, elbow, shoulder…
From Grambank; where a language mixes systems, the most distinctive is shown.
Tens 971
ChineseEnglishArabicPortugueseRussianJapaneseFilipinoMarathiSwahiliTurkishTeluguWu ChineseKoreanVietnameseTamilCantoneseItalianEgyptian ArabicWestern FarsiBhojpuriMin Nan ChineseLevantine ArabicKannadaPolishMalayalamOdiaMaithiliBurmeseIgboUkrainianUzbekDutchSerbian-Croatian-BosnianKhmerTurkmenNepaliGreekHungarianSanaani ArabicCzech
Some twenties 260
FrenchAwadhiMagahiSouthern PashtoHaitianDanishGeorgianAlbanianBiniHoMundariChechenAja (Benin)GaroNupe-Nupe-TakoBasqueWelshYucatec MayaKui (India)LezghianKaqchikelKuviPengoIngushHyamNorthern NgbandiLazDzongkhaAbkhazTonga (Tonga Islands)MískitoRonCentral Guerrero NahuatlIrishMaria (India)BretonLepchaBafiaBurushaskiHuichol
Some fives 271
Body-part tally 44
Other / few numerals 313
HindiKanuriShonaGuaraniBalineseKambaAcehneseKʼicheʼNegeri Sembilan MalayKuyKorkuSoraWestern DaniPurepechaTshanglaHuastecMwaniGaloZaiwaPhom NagaShuarJuangAdzeraLenduYanomamöEmberá-CatíoTohono O'odhamAwa-CuaiquerLamjung-Melamchi YolmoMacushiApmaCubeoYanomámAjyíninka ApurucayaliBujhyalPanareAwjilahMocovíMono-AluYaminahua