Ge'ez numerals are a base-10 system using unique symbols for 1 through 9 and 10 through 90, plus special symbols that function as multipliers for 100 and 10,000. They are encountered today in Ethiopian Orthodox church calendars, religious manuscripts, historical texts, and traditional documents. Modern Ethiopia uses Arabic numerals for commerce, government, and everyday life, but knowledge of Ge'ez numerals is necessary for reading religious literature, understanding historical records, and working with traditional Ethiopian manuscripts.
The Ge'ez numeral system predates the Arabic numerals used in modern Ethiopia. It is still used in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, religious manuscripts, and the Ethiopian calendar. This reference shows the full numeral set with their Arabic equivalents and notes on the multiplicative positional system.
How the System Works
• Separate symbols exist for ones (1–9), tens (10–90), hundreds (100, 200…), and ten-thousands (10,000 = ፼)
• Compound numbers are formed by writing symbols left-to-right (largest to smallest): ፫፻፵፭ = 300 + 40 + 5 = 345
• ፻ alone means 100; ፪፻ means 200 (2 × 100)
• ፼ alone means 10,000; larger numbers combine this with multipliers
• For 1,000+, modern practice mixes Ge'ez with the Amharic word ሺ (thousand)
Core Symbols
Ones (1–9)
1
፩
አንድ
2
፪
ሁለት
3
፫
ሦስት
4
፬
አራት
5
፭
አምስት
6
፮
ስድስት
7
፯
ሰባት
8
፰
ስምንት
9
፱
ዘጠኝ
Tens (10–90)
10
፲
አስር
20
፳
ሃያ
30
፴
ሰላሳ
40
፵
አርባ
50
፶
ሃምሳ
60
፷
ስልሳ
70
፸
ሰባ
80
፹
ሰማንያ
90
፺
ዘጠና
Special Symbols
Number
Ge'ez Symbol
Amharic Word
Notes
100
፻
አንድ ሕቶ
Stands alone for exactly 100
200
፪፻
ሁለት ሕቶ
2 × 100
1,000
፩ሺ
አንድ ሺህ
Ge'ez + Amharic ኺ (thousand)
10,000
፼
አሥር ሺህ
Myriad symbol (10,000)
20,000
፪፼
ሃያ ሺህ
2 × 10,000
Worked Examples
25፳፭
ሃያ አምስት
20 + 5
47፵፯
አርባ ሰባት
40 + 7
99፺፱
ዘጠና ዘጠኝ
90 + 9
345፫፻፵፭
ሦስት ሕቶ አርባ አምስት
300 + 40 + 5
1,066፩ሺ፷፮
አንድ ሺህ ስልሳ ስድስት
1000 + 60 + 6
2,024፪ሺ፳፬
ሁለት ሺህ ሃያ አራት
2000 + 20 + 4
Ethiopic Punctuation
Symbol
Name
Usage
።
Full Stop (Arat Netib)
Sentence-ending punctuation
፣
Comma (Sost Netib)
Comma / list separator
፤
Semicolon (Hult Netib)
Semicolon / clause separator
፥
Colon
Colon / separator
፦
Preface colon
Introduces a list or quotation
«»
Quotation marks
Used for direct speech in Amharic text
About Ethiopic Numerals
The Ethiopic numeral system (Ge'ez numerals) is a traditional number notation that evolved alongside the Ge'ez script in the Kingdom of Aksum. Unlike positional decimal systems, Ethiopic numerals use distinct symbols for 1–9, 10–90, 100, and 10,000, combined multiplicatively and additively to represent larger numbers. The system was historically used in religious manuscripts, administrative records, and land registers. While modern Ethiopia uses Hindu-Arabic numerals for everyday arithmetic and commerce, Ethiopic numerals remain in use in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, historical texts, and traditional calendar systems. The characters occupy the Unicode range U+1369–U+137C in the Ethiopic block.