Counting in Uyghur

Language overview

Uyghur or Uighur (ئۇيغۇر تىلى, Уйғур тил, Uyghur tili, Uyƣur tili) belongs to the Kalruk branch of the Turkic language family. It is primarily spoken by the Uyghur people in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of Western China, and also in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The Uyghur language counts about 10 million native speakers. It is written using four different alphabets:

• UEY, the Uyghur Arabic alphabet, the only official alphabet in the Xinjiang province of China;
• ULY, the Uyghur Latin alphabet, introduced in 2008;
• UKY, the Uyghur Cyrillic alphabet, mostly used by Uyghurs living in Central Asian countries;
• UYY, the older mixed Uyghur New Script (also called Pinyin Yeziⱪi or UPNY), also Latin-based, but now superseded by ULY.

Uyghur numbering rules

Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).

• Digits from zero to nine are rendered by specific words, namely nöl (نۆل) [0], bir (بىر) [1], ikki (ئىككى) [2], üch (ئۈچ) [3], töt (تۆت) [4], besh (بەش) [5], alte (ئالتە) [6], yette (يەتتە) [7], sekkiz (سەككىز) [8], and tokkuz (توققۇز) [9].
• Tens have specific names from ten to fifty, based on the multiplier digit root from sixty to ninety: on (ئون) [10], yigirme (يىگىرمە) [20], ottooz (ئوتتۇز) [30], kirik (قىرىق) [40], ellik (ئەللىك) [50], atmish (ئاتمىش) [60], yetmish (يەتمىش) [70], seksen (سەكسەن) [80], and toksan (توقسان) [90].
• Compound numbers are formed starting with the ten, then the unit separated with a space (e.g.: ellik yette (ئەللىك يەتتە) [57], toksan üch (توقسان ئۈچ) [93]).
• Hundreds are formed starting with the multiplier digit, followed by the word for hundred (yüz (يۈز)), separated with a space, except for one hundred: yüz (يۈز) [100], ikki yüz (ئىككى يۈز) [200], üch yüz (ئۈچ يۈز) [300], töt yüz (تۆت يۈز) [400], besh yüz (بەش يۈز) [500], alte yüz (ئالتە يۈز) [600], yette yüz (يەتتە يۈز) [700], sekkiz yüz (سەككىز يۈز) [800], and tokkuz yüz (توققۇز يۈز) [900].
• Thousands are formed starting with the multiplier digit, followed by the word for thousand (ming (مىڭ)), separated with a space, except for one thousand: ming (مىڭ) [1,000], ikki ming (ئىككى مىڭ) [2,000], üch ming (ئۈچ مىڭ) [3,000], töt ming (تۆت مىڭ) [4,000], besh ming (بەش مىڭ) [5,000], alte ming (ئالتە مىڭ) [6,000], yette ming (يەتتە مىڭ) [7,000], sekkiz ming (سەككىز مىڭ) [8,000], and tokkuz ming (توققۇز مىڭ) [9,000].
• The following scale words are: miliyon (مىليون) [million, 10⁶], miliyard (مىليارد) [billion, 10⁹], triliyon (تىرىليون) [trillion, 10¹²].

Write a number in full in Uyghur

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Uyghur. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.

Books

Turkic languages

Azerbaijani, Bashkir, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, Turkish, Uyghur, and Yakut.

Other supported languages

As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.