How many is several?

Several means a few, doesn’t it? The etymology lies in the Latin separ meaning separate or different, which itself is a back-formation of separare, which means “to pull apart”. A headline saying that “several warplanes had crashed” made me initially assume anywhere between 5 and 7. But, it was actually 3. 3 is not, to my mind, several. Journalese has a lot to answer for. I try not to use it.

Single, unit, one – 1

Couple, duo – 2. A couple often means three when referring to alcoholic beverages, rather than strictly 2.

Brace – 2, usually of two hunted pheasants

Trio – 3

Handful – perhaps 4-6, but commonly 5, a small, manageable amount.

Half-a dozen – 6

Several – 5-8, more than a few, but not many. In legalese, “several” means “separate” as in “joint and several liability, it means each is responsible together and as separate individuals.

Firkin – 9 (British) gallons, 72 (British) pints.

Numerous – 9+, but can be any number of something the observer cannot be bothered to count precisely.

Decade – 10, as in years, but indeed any group of ten things.

Dozen – 12

About a dozen – 11-13

Baker’s dozen – 13

Fortnight – 14, as in days, two weeks.

Stone – 14 pounds of weight.

Score – 20

Pony – 25, as in British money, a pony is 25 quid, 25 pounds.

Minute – 60 seconds

Moment – 90 seconds, 1/40th of an hour, archaically, a minute and a half in other words, but today just a very brief period of time.

Ton – 100, often anywhere from 85-95 mph when a biker or driver is bragging

Gross – 144, 12-dozen

Ream – 500, as in pieces of paper in a pack of paper.

Monkey – 500, as in British money, 500 quid, 500 pounds

Grand – 1000

Milliard – 1,000,000,000, archaic referring to what Americans call a billion, and what became standard in science and universally back in the 1970s. We switched to the so-called “short scale”.

Billion – 1,000,000,000 – but used to be so much bigger, meaning a million x million, hence  the “bi” meaning 2, rather than a thousand x million.

Umpteen – Any very large number, beyond counting, depends on context. As in “umpteen things on my to do list” could mean a dozen, which itself could be anywhere from 10 or 11, 12, to a score, or even a couple of dozen.