Numbers in Text Messaging

Number Abbreviations ("Number Codes")

Today's iKids (Millennials and Gen Z) use lots of numbers and symbols in their texts. In truth, many of the terms they use were conceived in the era of the earliest pagers by the Baby Boomers (1946-1964) and Gen X (1965-1980), and some terms are well over 100 years old, having been used as "secret" messages in handwritten letters.

So, let's not give the iKids all the credit. Nevertheless, they have created some brilliant numeronyms (often referred to as "number codes"), icons, and slang terms. So, kudos. Credit where credit is due. We have hundreds of entries that are made up of just numbers or combinations of numbers and letters.

In some cases, the numbers represent the letters they look like (e.g., the number 4 is often used to replace the letter A). However, that is only a small part of the story. In "text speak" (which we like to call cyber speak), numbers are used in lots of imaginative ways.

Numeronyms are formed in various ways, such as:

• Shortening a word by replacing a sequence of letters with the count of those letters (e.g., i18n for "internationalization" and a11y for "accessibility").
• Combining letters and numbers (e.g, K9 for "canine" and W3 for "World Wide Web").
• Using numbers to represent letters or words (e.g., 143 for "I love you," 637 for "always and forever," and 5201314 for "I will love you for a lifetime").

Some "number codes" were used long before the digital era. Many of the early numeronyms, like 143 and 637, were written on the envelopes of letters between lovers. They were often a coded message between the sender and the recipient, thought to allow secret expressions of love or passion.

The Most Popular Numbers Used in Text Speak

The table below shows the most popular "number codes." (Here is a more complete list of number-related terms.)

Using Numbers ("Number Codes") in Texts

This video shows some of the many ways that numbers are used in text messaging:

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