Myriad

Myriad is the classical Greek name for the number 10⁴ = 10,000 = 100², that is, one hundred times one hundred. Sometimes it is used in Spanish as a noun denoting a large or incalculable number.

Despite the great utility that this name could have (the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans give ten thousand a proper name), in Spanish the number 10,000 is called "diez mil", and "myriad" only with the meaning of "very many". In Mandarin Chinese the myriad (10,000) is called wan (萬 / 万), in Japanese and Korean it is called man (万). In turn, the myriad of myriads (10⁸ = 10,000² = 100,000,000) is called oku (億) in Japanese and eok in Korean.

In the Western numbering system, the digits are grouped in threes (in thousands): 10,000, so there is no need for a special name for 10,000. However, in the Asian system, the digits are grouped by fours (by myriads), i.e. 30,000 is 30,000 (three myriads) in Chinese or Japanese (Japanese: san man or 3-man). For the same reason, in Chinese and Japanese the word "million" does not take place, but is expressed as a hundred myriads (1,000,000 vs. 100,000).

In modern Greek the myriad is still used, but also the million. A million is ekatommyrio (εκατομμύριο, that is, "a hundred myriads"); a trillion is not trismyrio but disekatommyrio (δισεκατομμύριο).