Japanese
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Japanese uses a different counting system for large numbers to English. In English, numbers increase by thousands, so one thousand, one million, then one billion, a thousand times a million. Japanese is based on the Chinese system which uses ten thousand as a basic unit. A man (万) is ten thousand, and then an oku (億) is ten thousand times ten thousand, a hundred million. Increasing in number, a chou (兆) is ten thousand times an oku, or a trillion. The following list shows the first few of these large numbers.
| Kanji | Pronunciation | As numerals | As English |
|---|---|---|---|
| 一 | いち | 1 | One |
| 十 | じゅう | 10 | Ten |
| 百 | ひゃく | 100 | One hundred |
| 千 | せん | 1,000 | One thousand |
| 万 | まん | 10,000 | Ten thousand |
| 億 | おく | 100,000,000 | One hundred million |
| 兆 | ちょう | 1,000,000,000,000 | One trillion |
| 京 | けい | 10,000,000,000,000,000 | Ten quadrillion |
The following representations of very large and small numbers also exist. Many of these originate from Buddhist terminology.
| Kanji | Kana | Romaji | Value as power of ten | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 一 | いち | ichi | ||
| 十 | じゅう | jū | 101 | |
| 百 | ひゃく | hyaku | 102 | |
| 千 | せん | sen | 103 | |
| 万 | まん | man | 104 | |
| 億 | おく | oku | 108 | |
| 兆 | ちょう | chō | 1012 | |
| 京 | けい | kei | 1016 | |
| 垓 | がい | gai | 1020 | |
| 𥝱 | じょ | jo | 1024 | |
| 穰 | じょう | jō | 1028 | |
| 溝 | こう | kō | 1032 | |
| 澗 | かん | kan | 1036 | |
| 正 | せい | sei | 1040 | |
| 載 | さい | sai | 1044 | |
| 極 | ごく | goku | 1048 | |
| 恒河沙 | ごうがしゃ | gōgasha | 1052 | Originally a Buddhist term. 恒河 (Gōga) means the river Ganges in India, and this means "the number of grains of sand in the Ganges river". |
| 阿僧祇 (阿僧梢) | あそうぎ | asōgi | 1056 | From the Sanskrit 'asamkhya', meaning a very large number. |
| 那由他 | なゆた | nayuta | 1060 | From the Sanskrit 'nayuta', meaning a very large number. |
| 不可思議 | ふかしぎ | fukashigi | 1064 | |
| 無量大数 | むりょうたいすう | muryōtaisū | 1068 | |
| 分 | ぶ | bu | 10-1 | |
| 厘 (釐) | りん | rin | 10-2 | |
| 毛 | もう | mō | 10-3 | |
| 糸 (絲) | し | shi | 10-4 | |
| 忽 | こつ | kotsu | 10-5 | |
| 微 | び | bi | 10-6 | |
| 繊 | せん | sen | 10-7 | |
| 沙 | しゃ | sha | 10-8 | |
| 塵 | じん | jin | 10-9 | |
| 埃 | あい | ai | 10-10 | |
| 渺 | びょう | byō | 10-11 | |
| 漠 | ばく | baku | 10-12 | |
| 模糊 | もこ | moko | 10-13 | |
| 逡巡 | しゅんじゅん | shunjun | 10-14 | |
| 須臾 | しゅゆ (すゆ) | shuyu (suyu) | 10-15 | |
| 瞬息 | しゅんそく | shunsoku | 10-16 | |
| 弾指 | だんし | danshi | 10-17 | From the Sanskrit 'acchataa'. |
| 殺那 | せつな | setsuna | 10-18 | From the Sanskrit 'kṣaṇa', meaning a very short period of time. |
| 六徳 | りっとく | rittoku | 10-19 | |
| 虚 | きょ | kyo | 10-20 | |
| 空 | くう | kū | 10-21 | |
| 清 | せい | sei | 10-22 | |
| 浄 | じょう | jō | 10-23 |
About the kanji links: Choose the site for kanji links at the kanji.sljfaq.org options page.
See also the FAQ's Western to Kanji and Kanji to Western number converters.
Convert a number in English or arabic numerals into kanji:
Convert a kanji number into English and arabic numerals:
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