Counting in Vulcan

Language overview

Forty-two in Vulcan The Vulcan language is an artificial language developed in the Star Trek universe, mostly by Mark R. Gardner from the Vulcan Language Institute. It can be written in three different scripts (traditional calligraphy, standard script, and handwriting), all of them written vertically from top to bottom.

Vulcan numbers list

  • 1 – wuhkuh
  • 2 – dahkuh
  • 3 – rehkuh
  • 4 – kehkuh
  • 5 – kaukuh
  • 6 – shehkuh
  • 7 – stehkuh
  • 8 – ohkuh
  • 9 – naukuh
  • 10 – lehkuh
  • 11 – leh-wuh
  • 12 – leh-dah
  • 13 – leh-reh
  • 14 – leh-keh
  • 15 – leh-kau
  • 16 – leh-sheh
  • 17 – leh-steh
  • 18 – leh-oh
  • 19 – leh-nau
  • 20 – dah-leh
  • 30 – reh-leh
  • 40 – keh-leh
  • 50 – kau-leh
  • 60 – sheh-leh
  • 70 – steh-leh
  • 80 – oh-leh
  • 90 – nau-leh
  • 100 – teh
  • 1,000 – leh-teh
  • one million – zhoh
  • one billion – moh

Vulcan numerals

The following numerals are written in the standard script.

Zero (0 ) in Vulcan ()
0
One (1 ) in Vulcan (Wuhkuh)
1
Two (2 ) in Vulcan (Dahkuh)
2
Three (3 ) in Vulcan (Rehkuh)
3
Four (4 ) in Vulcan (Kehkuh)
4
Five (5 ) in Vulcan (Kaukuh)
5
Six (6 ) in Vulcan (Shehkuh)
6
Seven (7 ) in Vulcan (Stehkuh)
7
Eight (8 ) in Vulcan (Ohkuh)
8
Nine (9 ) in Vulcan (Naukuh)
9

Vulcan 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 one to nine are specific words: wuhkuh [1], dahkuh [2], rehkuh [3], kehkuh [4], kaukuh [5], shehkuh [6], stehkuh [7], ohkuh [8], and naukuh [9]. The word for ten (lehkuh) follows the same pattern, i.e. a three-letter root suffixed with kuh.
  • The tens are formed by suffixing the multiplier digit root with the root of the word for ten (leh), separated with a hyphen, except for ten itself: lehkuh [10], dah-leh [20], reh-leh [30], keh-leh [40], kau-leh [50], sheh-leh [60], steh-leh [70], oh-leh [80], and nau-leh [90].
  • Teens are formed by stating the root of the word for ten (leh) and the digit root separated with a hyphen (e.g.: leh-wuh [11] (from lehkuh wuhkuh), leh-sheh [16]).
  • The compound numbers above twenty are formed by stating the ten and the digit name separated with a space (e.g.: dah-leh kaukuh [25], kau-leh ohkuh [58]).
  • The hundreds are formed by prefixing the word for hundred (teh) with the root of its multiplier, except for one hundred itself: teh [100], dah-teh [200], reh-teh [300], keh-teh [400], kau-teh [500]…
  • The thousands are formed following the hundreds pattern, with the multiplier being a ten: leh-teh [1,000] (10*100), dah-leh-teh [2,000] (20*100), reh-leh-teh [3,000] (30*100), keh-leh-teh [4,000] (40*100), kau-leh-teh [5,000] (50*100)…
  • One million is zhoh, and one billion (109) is moh.

Write a number in full in Vulcan

Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Vulcan. 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

Articles

Marc Okrand Marc Okrand

After studying Native American languages, Marc Okrand taught linguistics courses at the University of California, then spent his career at the National Captioning Institute. In parallel, he has created the Klingon language for the Star Trek franchise, as well as the Atlantean language for Walt Disney Pictures.

Source

Star Trek languages

Klingon, Romulan, and Vulcan.

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.