Hokkien numerals
Sorji 🔊 (sox+ji; 數字; Numeral system)
| 1 | 2 | 3 / 三 | 4 / 四 | 5 / 五 | 6 / 六 | 7 / 七 | 8 / 八 | 9 / 九 | 10 / 十 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peh | cit (蜀) | nng (兩) | svaf | six | go | lak | chid | pøeq | kao | zap |
| Buun | id (一) | ji (二) | safm | sux | gvor | liok | pad | kiuo | sip |
Usage Notes
There are two sets of numbers in Taiwanese: colloquial style (peh) and the literary style (buun). The colloquial readings come from Ancient Han Chinese/Old Chinese (Kor Harnguo) (ca. 0 BCE/CE), whereas the literary readings come from Han Chinese during the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) (Kixntai Harnguo). Nowadays, the "peh" style is used most, whereas the "buun" style is mostly used to recite telephone numbers (tiexn'oe). See Buun-peh-i-thak for more info.
Please note "ji" is used in the ones, tens and hundreds place, whereas "nng" is used for multiples of numbers 100 and greater. This is analogous to the use of 二 and 兩 in mandarin.
Furthermore, telephone digits are grouped according to certain rules and tone sandhi is applied. For example, 3945068 🔊 is read: safm kiuo sux, gvor khoxng, liok pad (see Khax Tiexn'oe).