Hexadecimal Number Words

You may be wondering how to pronounce numbers written in hex. If so, you're not the first. Even computer geeks have argued over the matter, as this Slashdot discussion from 2003 shows. Until now, you had one of two choices: enunciate every single digit like you're reciting a phone number, or convert to base ten to use current number words. Neither choice is optimal for thinking or communicating in hex.

Even if hex continues to play second fiddle to decimal, it's not going away any sooner than digital computers. So to make life easier for the computer geeks using hex on a daily basis and the Information Age school kids who should be, we propose the following system of hexadecimal number words for the English language:

Basic Numbers (1–10)

Two-Digit Numbers (11–FF)

The Teeks (11–1F)

Ordinals are created with the suffix -th. For example, 19th would be nineteekth.

Two-Digit Multiples of Tex

The above words combine with the words for one-digit numbers in the same manner as base-ten words. For instance, 21 would be twentek-one and 9E would be ninetek-eptwin. For ease of speech, eleven may be shortened to leven making BB levtek-leven.

Ordinals are created through the same process, making 21st twentek-first, 9Eth ninetek-eptwinth, and BBth levtek-leventh. The ordinals for the two-digit multiples also use the suffix -th, making 80th eightekth.

Powers of Tex

Since quadrillek is a very large number, names for powers of tex larger than it are unlikely to be useful and hence not created, though it is rumored in some circles that a 1 with a hundrek 0s behind it is a googlek.