A Dozen Nonnumerical Words for Quantities

The English language has, well, a number of words that denote specific or approximate quantities that are themselves not numbers. This post lists and defines a dozen of those words.

1. brace: two, in reference to identical objects

2. century: primarily denotes 100 years, but occasionally used, especially in the context of competitive racing, to refer to something consisting of 100, as in a 100-mile race

3. couple: two, though loosely refers to a few of something

4. decade: primarily denotes 10 years, but occasionally refers to ten of something

5. dozen: twelve (a half dozen, or half a dozen, is six, and a baker’s dozen is thirteen, from the notion that a baker would include an extra item in a batch of twelve so as not to be accused of short-changing a customer)

6. duo: two, in reference to people engaged in an endeavor together, as in musical performance (other words denote three or more people in the same context: trio, quartet, etc.)

7. grand: slang for “1,000”

8. gross: 144, or twelve dozen

9. large: slang for “1,000”

10. myriad: originally, ten thousand, but now loosely refers to a very large quantity

11. pair: two, often in reference to identical objects

12. score: twenty