10 in Mende Kikakui
One with the tens subscript: 1 × 10.
HISTORICAL · DECIMAL UNITS & MULTIPLIERS
Mende Kikakui
Right-to-left digit groups with attached subscripts for teens and decimal magnitudes.
Convert numbers- Place
- Sierra Leone
- Period / variant
- Early twentieth century
EXAMPLES
27 · Decimal units & multipliers
Read from right: two tens, then seven ones. Add 20 + 7.
Worked example
Write 27 in Mende Kikakui
Read from right to left, starting with the largest group. A digit’s attached subscript gives the group its value; empty groups are omitted.
Attach the 10s subscript below the 2 digit. This marker multiplies: 2 × 10 = 20.
Write the 7 digit on its own for the remaining 7 ones.
Check
2 × 10 + 7 = 27
Sources and notation notes
Unicode: Mende Kikakui number formation · Mende Kikakui character chart
Meet the symbols
Each tile shows a sign and what it means. A sign can stand for a whole amount, such as 10 or 100.
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
- 11
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
- 17
- 18
- 19
- 20
- 30
- 40
- 50
- 60
- 70
- 80
- 90
- 100
- 1,000
- 10,000
- 100,000
- 1,000,000
How the symbols fit together
Read from right to left. A digit and its subscript form one group. Add the groups: the teens subscript adds ten, while the other subscripts multiply a digit by ten, one hundred, and larger powers of ten.
- Unmarked digits represent one through nine. There is no zero digit or empty-place sign.
- For 11–19, attach the special teens subscript beneath the units digit: four with this mark means 10 + 4 = 14.
- For a multiple of ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, or million, attach that magnitude’s subscript beneath its coefficient digit.
- Write the largest group at the right. Continue toward the left with smaller groups; omit groups with a coefficient of zero.
- For 417, the right group is four hundreds and the left group is seven with the teens mark: 400 + 17. For 56, combine five with the tens mark and an unmarked six.
14 in Mende Kikakui
Four with the distinct teens subscript: 10 + 4.
27 in Mende Kikakui
Read from right: two tens, then seven ones. Add 20 + 7.
206 in Mende Kikakui
Read from right: two hundreds and six ones. The absent tens need no placeholder.
417 in Mende Kikakui
Read from right: four hundreds followed by seven with the teens mark. Add 400 + 17.
784 in Mende Kikakui
Read from right: seven hundreds, eight tens, four ones.
The converter follows Unicode’s documented digit-and-subscript formation through the million mark, supporting 1–9,999,999. Each attached group is a modern vector drawing. This is not positional notation: gaps do not require a zero. The supported ceiling is an app bound, not a claim about the language’s ability to count.
History
Kikakui is an indigenous script for the Mende language. Its numerical repertoire combines nine unit signs with marks for decimal magnitudes and a separate mark for the teens. The numeral arrangement follows the script’s right-to-left reading direction.
How to read it
Read from right to left. A digit and its subscript form one group. Add the groups: the teens subscript adds ten, while the other subscripts multiply a digit by ten, one hundred, and larger powers of ten.
- Unmarked digits represent one through nine. There is no zero digit or empty-place sign.
- For 11–19, attach the special teens subscript beneath the units digit: four with this mark means 10 + 4 = 14.
- For a multiple of ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand, or million, attach that magnitude’s subscript beneath its coefficient digit.
- Write the largest group at the right. Continue toward the left with smaller groups; omit groups with a coefficient of zero.
- For 417, the right group is four hundreds and the left group is seven with the teens mark: 400 + 17. For 56, combine five with the tens mark and an unmarked six.
Limits
The converter follows Unicode’s documented digit-and-subscript formation through the million mark, supporting 1–9,999,999. Each attached group is a modern vector drawing. This is not positional notation: gaps do not require a zero. The supported ceiling is an app bound, not a claim about the language’s ability to count.
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