Malayalam numerals
System in Kerala, India
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Base numbers
Below is a list of Malayalam numerals with their Hindu–Arabic equivalents as well as their respective Malayalam translations and transliterations.
Originally, a number like "11" would have been written as "൰൧" and not "൧൧" to match the Malayalam word for 11 and "10,00,000" as "൰൱൲" similar to the Tamil numeral system. Later on this system got reformed to be more similar to the Hindu–Arabic numerals so 1,000,000 in the reformed numerals it would be ൧൦൦൦൦൦൦.
Old system
Suppose the number is "2013". It is read in Malayalam as "രണ്ടായിരത്തി പതിമൂന്ന്" (raṇḍāyiratti padimūnnŭ). It is split into:
- രണ്ട് (raṇḍŭ) : 2 - ൨
- ആയിരം (āyiram) : 1000 - ൲
- പത്ത് (pattŭ) : 10 - ൰
- മൂന്ന് (mūnnŭ) : 3 - ൩
Combine them together to get the Malayalam number ൨൲൰൩.
Fractions
In Malayalam, you can transcribe any fraction by affixing (-il) after the denominator followed by the numerator, so a fraction like 7⁄10 would be read as പത്തിൽ ഏഴ് (pattil ēḻŭ) 'out of ten, seven' but fractions like 1⁄2 1⁄4 and 3⁄4 have distinct names (ara, kāl, mukkāl) and 1⁄8 (arakkāl) 'half quarter'.