सङ्ख्यावाचनम् — say any number in Sanskrit

Ten digits, and a name for every place

अङ्काः · स्थानानि

The Devanāgarī numerals are the same place-value digits as 0–9 — only the shapes differ. Reading a number aloud is a different matter: Sanskrit has a word for each power of ten, and you read the number group by group.

लीलावतीBhāskara’s eighteen places (Līlāvatī 11–12)

Each place is ten times the one before it — दशगुणोत्तराः — and each has a name:

एकदशशतसहस्रायुतलक्षप्रयुतकोटयः क्रमशः।
अर्बुदमब्जं खर्वनिखर्वमहापद्मशङ्कवस्तस्मात्॥
जलधिश्चान्त्यं मध्यं परार्धमिति दशगुणोत्तराः संज्ञाः।
संख्यायाः स्थानानां व्यवहारार्थं कृताः पूर्वैः॥ Līlāvatī 11–12, as printed in S. A. Katre’s notes for a talk at the Bhāskarācārya Pratiṣṭhāna (February 2026); that print reads the third line’s ending as दशगुणोत्तरं संज्ञाः, and the font of its PDF is partly garbled. The verse is not in this site’s corpus, which holds the grammar only.

place	name	value

Older and other lists differ. The Yajurveda’s list of bricks () stops at परार्ध = 10¹², and Āryabhaṭa’s has ten places with नियुत for a lakh and वृन्द for 10⁹. Bhāskara’s eighteen, the same as Śrīdhara’s but for two synonyms, are the ones remembered today.

In practice nobody reads with all eighteen names. Indian usage groups two digits at a time above a thousand — सहस्र, लक्ष, कोटि — and says “so many crores” for anything larger: a hundred crores is शतं कोटयः, not अब्जम्. The converter below reads that way, and shows the eighteen names under the digits.

One to nineteen: a unit, then दश

६.३.४७ · ६.३.४८ · ६.३.१०९

Every number word has a stem — the form that goes into compounds, like पञ्चन्, षष्, द्वि — and a reading form, its nominative: पञ्च, षट्, द्वे. 1–4 change with gender (page 10); counting in the abstract, the neuter is used: एकम्, द्वे, त्रीणि, चत्वारि. From eleven, a number is a compound: the unit, then दश.

एकादश … नवदशUnit + दश, and four that change

Most teens are just the unit stem before दश: पञ्चदश, सप्तदश, नवदश, चतुर्दश. Four are not:

द्वादश, अष्टादश — द्वि and अष्टन् lengthen to द्वा, अष्टा before a numeral: . The Kāśikā: द्वादश। द्वाविंशतिः। द्वात्रिंशत्। अष्टादश।
त्रयोदश — त्रि becomes त्रयस्: ; त्रयस् + दश then goes through रु → उ and अ + उ = ओ.
षोडश — the vārttika on 6.3.109: . षष् becomes षो and the द of दश becomes ड. The Kāśikā: षट् च दश च षोडश.
एकादश — the आ of एक. No commentary in this site’s corpus derives it; the word is simply used in Pāṇini’s own sūtra 4.4.31 कुसीददशैकादशात् ष्ठन्ष्ठचौ.

Nineteen has three names. नवदश, “nine and ten”; एकोनविंशतिः, “twenty less one” (एकेन ऊनः, 2.1.31); and एकान्नविंशतिः, by — the Kāśikā’s own example, एकेन न विंशतिः. The same three ways work for 29, 39 … 99.

The decades are given, not built

५.१.५९

विंशति, त्रिंशत्, चत्वारिंशत्, पञ्चाशत्, षष्टि, सप्तति, अशीति, नवति, शत — Pāṇini lists them as ready-made forms (nipātana): . The Kāśikā shows the history inside them anyway: द्वयोर्दशतोर्विन्भावः शतिच् च प्रत्ययः — विंशति is “two tens”, with वि for the two.

From 20 on, a number is a feminine singular noun — विंशतिः, त्रिंशत् — whatever it counts; शतम् and सहस्रम् are neuter. What that means for the counted noun is on page 10.

Twenty-one to ninety-nine

The same pattern as the teens — unit stem, then the decade — with the same three changes and one new freedom:

६.३.४७–४९द्वा, त्रयस्, अष्टा: obligatory below forty, optional from forty, never before अशीति

द्वाविंशतिः, त्रयस्त्रिंशत्, अष्टाविंशतिः — obligatory. From forty on, : the Kāśikā gives both द्विचत्वारिंशत् and द्वाचत्वारिंशत्, त्रिपञ्चाशत् and त्रयःपञ्चाशत्. And before अशीति nothing changes — 6.3.47 excludes it — so द्व्यशीतिः, त्र्यशीतिः.

The rest is ordinary sandhi at the junction, and the grid shows each step: षष् becomes षट् before a voiceless sound and षड् before a voiced one (8.2.39, 8.4.55), and षण्णवतिः before न (8.4.45, 8.4.41); चतुर् becomes चतुस्, चतुश्, चतुष्, चतुः (8.3.15, 8.3.34, 8.3.41).

Tap any number for its forms, how each is built, and whether Monier-Williams or Apte lists it.

Hundreds and beyond: count the places

शतम् · सहस्रम् · लक्षम् · कोटिः

A big number is read group by group, largest first, and each group is “so many” of its place word. The place words are ordinary nouns — शत, सहस्र, लक्ष neuter, कोटि feminine — so they take the number of their count:

count	शत	सहस्र	कोटि	why

त्रिधाThree ways to say “one hundred and something”

1 · Count each place, and join with च

The plain way, and the one that works for every number: .

2 · “Increased by”: अधिक

The remainder as a compound with अधिक, agreeing with the place word: . The Kāśikā uses the idiom itself — पञ्चाधिका अस्मिन् शते — and Monier-Williams records compounds such as षष्ट्यधिकशत and चतुष्पञ्चाशदधिकशत (“the 154th”, of Mahābhārata chapters).

3 · Pāṇini’s own adjective: एकादशं शतम्

— a number ending in दश takes ड, and the result is an adjective meaning “in which so many are extra”: एकादशं शतम् is 111, द्वादशं सहस्रम् is 1,012. The Kāśikā limits it to शत and सहस्र (शतसहस्रयोश्चेष्यते), excludes पञ्च and दश itself, and 6.4.142’s Kāśikā adds विंशं शतम्, 120.

वर्षेYears: count the hundreds past ten, and make one word of it

A year such as 1886 is not read “one thousand eight hundred …”. The hundreds are counted straight on — अष्टादश शतानि, eighteen hundred — and the remainder is added with अधिक or उत्तर:

as a phrase one compound, with अधिक with उत्तर — as in अष्टोत्तरशतम्, 108 “in the year 1886”

Three rules make the compound. Before शत and सहस्र the unit keeps its plain form — the vārttika on 6.3.47, प्राक् शतादिति वक्तव्यम्, with the Kāśikā’s own द्विशतम्, अष्टशतम्, द्विसहस्रम्, अष्टसहस्रम्. The ordinal takes तम: , and the Kāśikā gives शततमः, सहस्रतमः, एकशततमः, द्विशततमः. And where अधिक or उत्तर meets a vowel, ordinary sandhi: अष्ट + उत्तर → अष्टोत्तर (6.1.87), उत्तर + एकादशशत → उत्तरैकादशशत (6.1.88), अधिक + अष्टादशशत → अधिकाष्टादशशत (6.1.101). Monier-Williams records such compounds from Mahābhārata chapter colophons — षष्ट्यधिकशत, चतुष्पञ्चाशदधिकशत, “the 154th”.

अष्टादश सहस्र would be 18,000. The year is अष्टादश शत — eighteen hundred. For years from 2000 on the thousands are the natural unit: 2026 is षड्विंशत्यधिकद्विसहस्रम्, षड्विंशत्यधिकद्विसहस्रतमे वर्षे.

Any number, read out

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A whole number — in digits (2026, 1,23,456, १०८) or in English words (two thousand twenty-six, one lakh five, three crore).

Where every word came from

honesty

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