<p>Well, excluding the thumb would be cheap, but natural. Maybe, in your conlang the word for &quot;finger&quot; means only the four fingers excluding the thump. So your people have eight fingers and two thumbs. Maybe they count by using the thumb as an index to the fingers.</p>
<p>EDIT: I just learned that in some Native American languages, e.g., <a href="https://://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuki_language" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Yuki</a> and <a href="https:////en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pame_languages" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Pame</a>, the spaces between the fingers are counted, leading natuarally to a base-8 numeral system.</p>
<p>Pacific islanders count by body parts (usually there more than eight). A simple system with eight elements can go left fingertips—left hand—left elbow—left shoulder—right shoulder—right elbow—right hand—right fingertips. The number words in such a system correspond to the names of the body parts.</p>
<p>There are probably more possible explanations.</p>

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2024-12-09T12:42:31.813Z
2024-12-09T13:04:59.090Z
2024-12-09T13:04:59.090Z
Sir Cornflakes
<p>Counting base systems in languages usually come from how the culture in question counts using their fingers, like the base-10 with all the fingers counted (1x5x2) or the base-12 where you count the phalanges of your first four fingers (3x4). For base-eight, I've been thinking of a system where you exclude your thumb (maybe as a counting rod-kinda way), but that seems cheap. Any potential ways this could be?</p>

<conlang-creation><numerals>
How could a base-8 system form naturally in a naturalistic conlang?
# How could a base-8 system form naturally in a naturalistic conlang?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2024-12-09)

Counting base systems in languages usually come from how the culture in question counts using their fingers, like the base-10 with all the fingers counted (1x5x2) or the base-12 where you count the phalanges of your first four fingers (3x4). For base-eight, I've been thinking of a system where you exclude your thumb (maybe as a counting rod-kinda way), but that seems cheap. Any potential ways this could be?

**Tags:** conlang-creation, numerals

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2024-12-09. Score: 2

Well, excluding the thumb would be cheap, but natural. Maybe, in your conlang the word for "finger" means only the four fingers excluding the thump. So your people have eight fingers and two thumbs. Maybe they count by using the thumb as an index to the fingers.

EDIT: I just learned that in some Native American languages, e.g., [Yuki](https://://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuki_language) and [Pame](https:////en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pame_languages), the spaces between the fingers are counted, leading natuarally to a base-8 numeral system.

Pacific islanders count by body parts (usually there more than eight). A simple system with eight elements can go left fingertips—left hand—left elbow—left shoulder—right shoulder—right elbow—right hand—right fingertips. The number words in such a system correspond to the names of the body parts.

There are probably more possible explanations.


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