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I'm a native German speaker. My daughter is learning (British) English in school. She wrote her first English test and got it back from the teacher now.

I'm surprised the title of the test was

class test nr.1

Is nr. a common abbreviation for the word number in (British) English? I was expecting the abbreviation no.

The answers to these questions didn't help me:

It's not clear to me if

the availability of other abbreviations like "Num." or "Nr." or "#"

means it's available in English or if it'd just be a "natural" choice.

The Wikipedia numero sign page isn't giving a final answer either.

One Minute English shows the use in British English but without the colon.

This answer on englishforums.com claims it's not correct English.

Edit: Changed the wording from correct to common.

DrP3pp3r
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    Normally we use 'nr' as an abbreviation of 'near', and 'no' to abbreviate 'number' (from Latin numero). Moreover, unlike AmE, abbreviations do not usually end with a stop if they comprise the first and last letter of the word. So in BrE we have and Mr and Dr, in AmE they use Mr. and Dr. But because the abbreviation 'no' is easily confused with the word 'no', we usually capitalise it with a stop, like No. 1 or with a superscipt like Nº 1. – Weather Vane Nov 08 '22 at 17:38
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    "One Minute English" seems to be the personal website of some guy named Conor, so you don't seem to have any really reputable sources that indicate that "nr" is a valid abbreviation for "number". – MarcInManhattan Nov 08 '22 at 17:39
  • I don't think that historically the # was much used in BrE, but is routinely seen and understood. – Weather Vane Nov 08 '22 at 17:43
  • @StuartF: Why is this obvious? There are norms and standards for similar things. And I am quite sure there's a standard way/convention for doing this in scientific papers. Furthermore, maybe not everyone here is working or has studied in the field of linguistics and thus doesn't know there's no "official list"? Why are there questions like mine on other pages? Anyway: I'm going to change the wording from "correct" to "common". – DrP3pp3r Nov 08 '22 at 18:37
  • It is included in the Oxford Reference Dictionary of Abbreviations. Lower case, last entry in the list. But I'd say it's unusual and better avoided. And note the lack of a full stop. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 08 '22 at 19:52
  • This question would require a great deal of effort to be answered other than subjectively. From your bio. I gather you are in the US. In Britain my experience is that "No." is used in the vast majority of cases, but other Brits may have a different experience. Perhaps "nr." is part of an American de-latinization movement that I assume is responsible for the creeping use of "ex" in place of "e.g.". – David Nov 08 '22 at 22:19
  • No. 1 OR Nbr. 1 but there is no official abbreviation for the word number in English. – Lambie Oct 23 '23 at 13:44

2 Answers2

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Nr is not a common abbreviation for number in British English. It will almost certainly be understood, but it does indicate a non-native speaker — for this particular abbreviation, a German speaker of English who has simply used the customary German abbreviation.

The only customary abbreviation for number in British English is no.

Collins has

No.

No. is a written abbreviation for number.

That year he was named the nation's No. 1 college football star.
Columbia Law Review, vol. no. 698 p1317.

and

nr

in British English:
abbreviation for near

There is no mention of nr for number.

Collins does mention #, but notes it as American and not British. Again, it's likely to be understood in British English, but as an Americanism.

number sign

in American English:
a symbol (#) for “number” or “numbered”

item #8 on the list

Andrew Leach
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  • Acronym(sic) Finder lists the number expansion of 'NR' (I'm not sure how they treat capitalisation in their data-gathering) ahead of even near. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 23 '23 at 18:04
  • Well, that's a matter of perceived reliability, I think. But instead of carping about each answer, why not write one? – Andrew Leach Oct 23 '23 at 18:19
  • My comment from 2 years ago: 'It is included in the Oxford Reference Dictionary of Abbreviations. Lower case, last entry in the list. But I'd say it's unusual and better avoided. And note the lack of a full stop.' So I'd say best not 'answered' on POB grounds. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 23 '23 at 18:40
  • Except it isn't opinion-based. There are documented sources. They may differ, in which case it's up to the OP to accept an answer, as always. The answers are not mere opinion. – Andrew Leach Oct 23 '23 at 18:42
  • Answers using cherry-picked resources / a non-balanced survey are statistically unsound and subjective (they are dependent on who's cherry-picking or using an inadequate sample). – Edwin Ashworth Oct 23 '23 at 18:47
  • Fine. *Write a better answer.* Stop carping in comments. – Andrew Leach Oct 23 '23 at 18:48
  • But my answer would include your references as well as the ORDA reference. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 24 '23 at 13:36
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It is not included in the Oxford English Dictionary list of abbreviations starting with 'n':

OED list of 'n' abbreviations

C.S.
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