In linguistics, ordinal numbers are the words representing the rank of a number with respect to some order, in particular order or position (i.e. first, second, third, etc.). Its use may refer to size, importance, chronology, etc. In English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

, they are adjective

Adjective

In grammar, an adjective is a 'describing' word; the main syntactic role of which is to qualify a noun or noun phrase, giving more information about the object signified....

s.

They are different from the cardinal numbers

Cardinal number (linguistics)

In linguistics, cardinal numbers are number words representing a quantity . They are related to ordinal numbers - See also :...

 (one, two, three, etc.) referring to the quantity.

Ordinal numbers are alternatively written in English with numerals and letter suffixes: 1st, 2nd or 2d, 3rd or 3d, 4th, 11th, 21st, 101st, 477th, etc. In some countries, written dates omit the suffix, although it is nevertheless pronounced. For example: 4 July 1776 ; July 4, 1776, ("July fourth ..."). When written out in full with "of", however, the suffix is retained: the 4th of July. In other languages, different ordinal indicator

Ordinal indicator

In written languages, an ordinal indicator is a sign adjacent to a numeral denoting that it is an ordinal number, rather than a cardinal number. The exact sign used varies in different languages.- English :...

s are used to write ordinal numbers.

In American Sign Language

American Sign Language

American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...

, the ordinal numbers first through ninth are formed with handshapes similar to those for the corresponding cardinal numbers with the addition of a small twist of the wrist.

Variations

Spatial or chronological ranks will use the standard linguistic ordinal numbers first, second, etc.; however, the ranking of precedence or effect often uses primary, secondary, etc. and historical rankings in literature, biology or music may use Greek prefixes, e.g., Proto-Isaiah, Deutero-Isaiah, Subjugalis ebdomi (seventh subjugation), endacato tergite (eleventh ring). The first twelve variations of ordinal numbers are given here.

Spatial/Chronological	first	second	third	fourth	fifth	sixth	seventh	eighth	ninth	tenth	eleventh	twelfth
Precedence/Effect	primary	secondary	tertiary	quaternary	quinary	senary	septenary	octonary	novenary	decenary	undecenary	duodecenary
Greek Prefix	proto-	deutero-	trito-	tetrado-	pempto-	ecto-	ebdomo-	ogdoo-	enato-	decato-	endecato-	dudecato-

See also

• Ordinal number
  Ordinal number
  In set theory, an ordinal number, or just ordinal, is the order type of a well-ordered set. They are usually identified with hereditarily transitive sets. Ordinals are an extension of the natural numbers different from integers and from cardinals...
  
   for the related, but more formal and abstract, usage in mathematics
• Ordinal indicator
  Ordinal indicator
  In written languages, an ordinal indicator is a sign adjacent to a numeral denoting that it is an ordinal number, rather than a cardinal number. The exact sign used varies in different languages.- English :...
  
   for more conventions for writing ordinal numbers (super-scripting)
• English numerals (in particular the Ordinal numbers section)