- This article is about the number. For the typeface, see Myriad (typeface)
Myriad is a classical Greek name for the number 104 = 10 000, or a group of 10 000 people, etc.
In English, the word can either refer to 10 000 or to an unspecified large quantity. There are also words in other languages with the same classic meaning as "myriad":
Chinese, Japanese and Korean also have words for a myriad squared (10 0002): yi (億/亿), oku (億), and eok (엌/億)(pronounced "awk"), respectively. A myriad cubed (10 0003) is a zhao (兆); cho (兆); a myriad to the fourth power (10 0004) is a jing (京); kei (京). Conversely, Chinese, Japanese and Korean do not have single words for a thousand squared, cubed, etc., unlike English.
The English numbering system divides large numbers into groups of three digits, and so the names for such numbers follow this division (10 000 = ten thousand). Asian numbering divides large numbers into groups of four; so in Chinese, Japanese, or Korean, 30 000 really would be "three myriad" (3 0000 - Japanese san-man). One million is a hundred myriad (100 x 10000 instead of 1000 x 1000); the next uniquely named number after a myriad is 億, which is myriad myriad (10000 x 10000) or a hundred million.
Modern Greek still uses the myriad, but also uses the million. One million is ekatommyrio (εκατομμύριο); one thousand million is not trismyrio but disekatommyrio (δισεκατομμύριο).
Archimedes of Syracuse used the recursive 'myriad' 'myriad' 'myriad' etc. to count the number of grains of sand on a beach, and hence, the entire universe (see The Sand Reckoner).
See also
Chinese numerals
