What is the abreviation for “number of”?

Question

In English we sometimes abbreviate Number of as No. (as confusing as that can be when it is taken out of context). E.g.:

Number of dogs → No. Dogs

Google Translate tells me the same phrase translates as

Nombre de chiens

Is there an equivalent French abbreviation for Nombre de?

In English, the non-ligature form No. is typical and is often used to abbreviate the word "number".[2] In North America, the number sign, #, is more prevalent. The ligature form does not appear on British or American QWERTY keyboards. — Lambie, May 10 '22 at 22:56

score 11 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 21 '13 at 22:27

11

Une abréviation courante est Nb

Par exemple

Nb étudiants: 307

answered Jan 21 '13 at 22:27

rds

2,960
7
22
29

Voir http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/NB – rds Jan 21 '13 at 22:29

score 5 · Answer 2 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:56

Nombre or nombre de isn't usually abbreviated in plain sentences in French. Among neat-looking¹ abbreviations, except for “n. d.” which would likely be ambiguous, “nb. d.” appears to be the only possibility (but classified as a retranchement multiple and advised against).

In telegraphic style, outside of a sentence, Nb is however often used for nombre de (cf. @rds example).

Notice that numéro (which is also translated as number and abbreviated # in English) has a standard and sometimes mandatory abbreviation when followed by a number: n^o (the letter o is found in exponent¹), plural would be n^os.

—
^{1. More details in Orthotypographie, or probably any other specialized book on the topic.}

Evpok · Answer 3 · 2013-01-22T12:56:54.557

1

As far as I know, there is no such thing in French, though the abbreviation nbr can be used if there is a lack of space.

By the way, the numéro symbol № (or n°) is rather used as # in English, e.g. in Exercice № 2713 for Exercise #2713, than as a shortcut for number of.

edited Jan 22 '13 at 12:56

answered Jan 21 '13 at 22:02

Evpok

20,004
7
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What is the abreviation for “number of”?

3 Answers3