Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Ordinal indicator
open-in-new
<p>In written languages, an ordinal indicator is a <a href="/facts/Character_(typography)/F6lt3g5D">character</a>, or group of characters, following a <a href="/facts/Numerical_digit/JJdLBoGT">numeral</a> denoting that it is an <a href="/facts/Ordinal_number_(linguistics)/Lg6cCHuN">ordinal number</a>, rather than a <a href="/facts/Names_of_numbers_in_English/4z1lNUHb">cardinal number</a>. Historically these letters were "elevated terminals", that is to say the last few letters of the full word denoting the ordinal form of the number displayed as a <a href="/facts/Superscript/6tExBnkw">superscript</a>. Probably originating with <a href="/facts/Latin/pM3Kge85">Latin</a> scribes, the character(s) used vary in different languages. </p><p>In <a href="/facts/English_ordinal_numbers/4z1lNUHb">English orthography</a>, this corresponds to the suffixes <i>‑st</i>, <i>‑nd</i>, <i>‑rd</i>, <i>‑th</i> in written ordinals (represented either on the line <i>1st</i>, <i>2nd</i>, <i>3rd</i>, <i>4th</i> or as <a href="/facts/Subscript_and_superscript/6tExBnkw">superscript</a> <i>1st</i>, <i>2nd</i>, <i>3rd</i>, <i>4th</i>). Also commonly encountered in <a href="/facts/Romance_languages/TMK4KHI3">Romance languages</a> are the superscript or <a href="/facts/Superior_letter/GQklBa67">superior</a> (and often underlined) masculine ordinal indicator, º, and feminine ordinal indicator, ª. In formal typography, the ordinal indicators ª and º are distinguishable from other characters. </p><p>The practice of underlined (or doubly underlined) superscripted abbreviations was common in 19th-century writing (not limited to ordinal indicators in particular, and extant in the <a href="/facts/Numero_sign/RR4DoBSf">numero sign</a> №), and was found in handwritten English until at least the late 19th century (e.g. <i>first</i> abbreviated '1st' or <i>1st</i>). </p>