Numerator (fraction) - Pronunciation and Spelling

Pronunciation and Spelling

Further information: Ordinal number (linguistics)

When reading fractions, it is customary in English to pronounce the denominator using ordinal nomenclature, as in "fifths" for fractions with a 5 in the denominator. Thus, for 3/5, we would say "three fifths" and for 5/32, we would say "five thirty-seconds". This generally applies to whole number denominators greater than 2, though large denominators that are not powers of ten are often read using the cardinal number. Therefore, 1/123 might be read "one one hundred twenty-third" but is often read "one over one hundred twenty-three". In contrast, because one million is a power of ten, 1/1,000,000 is commonly read "one-millionth" or "one one-millionth".

The denominators 1, 2, and 4 are special cases. The fraction 3/1 may be read "three wholes". The fraction 3/2 is usually read "three-halves", but never "three seconds". The fraction 3/4 may be read either "three fourths" or "three-quarters". Furthermore, since most fractions are used grammatically as adjectives of a noun, the fractional modifier is hyphenated. This is evident in standard prose in which one might write about "every two-tenths of a mile", "the quarter-mile run", or the Three-Fifths Compromise. When the fraction's numerator is one, then the word "one" may be omitted, such as "every tenth of a second" or "during the final quarter of the year".

Denominator	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
in words	half (or halves)	third(s)	fourth(s) or quarter(s)	fifth(s)	sixth(s)	seventh(s)	eighth(s)	ninth(s)
Denominator	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	22
in words	tenth(s)	eleventh(s)	twelfth(s)	thirteenth(s)	fourteenth(s)	fifteenth(s)	sixteenth(s)	twenty-second(s)
Denominator	100	1,000	1,000,000
in words	hundredth(s)	thousandth(s)	millionth(s)