antall

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

Formed by the word tall ("number", "digit") and the prefix an-, which is borrowed from Low German and is akin to Old Norse á ("on"). Cognate with German Anzahl and Danish and Swedish antal.

Noun

antall n (definite singular antallet)

1. number, amount; abstract entity used to describe quantity

   Folk møtte opp i stort antall på torget = a considerable number of people gathered at the square

   Fienden var overlegen i antall = the enemy had superior numbers

   Et antall sykler ble funnet gjenglemt i bakgården = a number of bikes were found left behind in the backyard

   Antallet ulykker er proporsjonalt med antallet kjøretøyer = the number of accidents corresponds to the number of vehicles

Usage notes

The word is never declined in plural, only in definite and indefinite singular. When speaking of numerals, only the word tall is used, though it also can replace antall by saying: tallet på (due to -an-- mainly supplanting prepositions, such as på, "on"). Note that antall is not allowed in Nynorsk, which uses tal and mengd instead.

Synonyms

mengde (only in Bokmål), mengd (only in Nynorsk), tall (only in Bokmål)

Derived terms

• et betydelig antall = a considerable number, considerable numbers
• et stort antall = a large number of