Editing English numerals (section)

==Empty numbers==
[[File:"Out of the Mud" flyer.jpg|thumb|"Out of the Mud" [[Flyer (pamphlet)|flyer]]]]

Colloquial English's small vocabulary of empty or indefinite numbers can be employed when there is uncertainty as to the precise number to use, but it is desirable to define a general range:  specifically, the terms "umpteen", "umpty", and "[[zillion]]".  These are derived etymologically from the range affixes:
* "-teen" (designating the range as being between 13 and 19 inclusive)
* "-ty" (designating the range as being between 20 and 90 inclusive)
* "-illion" (designating the range as being above 1,000,000; or, more generally, as being extremely large).

The prefix "ump-" is added to the first two suffixes to produce the empty numbers "umpteen" and "umpty": derived from the [[onomatopoeic]] sound on the [[telegraph key]] used by Morse operators.<ref>''[[Chambers Dictionary|The Chambers English Dictionary]]'' [12th edition] p.1693</ref>  A noticeable absence of an empty number is in the hundreds range.

Usage of empty numbers:
* The word "umpteen" may be used as an adjective, as in "I had to go to umpteen stores to find shoes that fit."  It can also be used to modify a larger number, usually "million", as in "Umpteen million people watched the show; but they still cancelled it."
* "Umpty" is not in common usage.  It can appear in the form "umpty-one" (paralleling the usage in such numbers as "twenty-one"), as in "There are umpty-one ways to do it wrong." "Umpty-ump" is also heard, though "ump" is never used by itself.
*  The word "zillion" may be used as an adjective, modifying a noun.  The noun phrase normally contains the indefinite article "a", as in "There must be a zillion pages on the World Wide Web."
*  The plural "zillions" designates a number indefinitely larger than "millions" or "billions".  In this case, the construction is parallel to the one for "millions" or "billions", with the number used as a plural count noun, followed by a prepositional phrase with "of", as in "There are zillions of grains of sand on the beaches of the world."
*  Empty numbers are sometimes made up, with obvious meaning: "squillions" is obviously an empty, but very large, number; a "squintillionth" would be a very small number.
*  Some empty numbers may be modified by actual numbers, such as "four zillion", and are used for jest, exaggeration, or to relate abstractly to actual numbers.
*  Empty numbers are colloquial, and primarily used in oral speech or informal contexts.  They are inappropriate in formal or scholarly usage.

See also [[Placeholder name]].