Certain terms for high numbers have been borrowed from the Sanskrit language and misapplied in adoption, namely, laḳsa (Sansk. laksha, 100,000), keti (Sansk. koṭi, 10,000,000), and juta (Sansk. ayuta, 10,000).
The numbers represented by these words in Malay are sa-laḳsa, ten thousand; sa-keti, one hundred thousand; sa-juta, one million.
In reckoning the numbers from 20 to 30, lekor, a score, is sometimes used instead of dua-puloh (especially in mentioning dates), but in that case the unit precedes instead of following the decimal; as sa-lekor, twenty-one; dua-lekor, twenty-two; tiga-lekor, twenty-three, &c.
To express a quantity which approaches what we call a round number, it is sometimes convenient to state the latter qualified by the figure in which it is deficient, as is done in the old-fashioned phrase “forty stripes save one.” Thus, instead of sambilan-puloh-dĕlapan, ninety-eight, the phrase korang dua sa-ratus, one hundred save two, may be used.
The use of the word tengah, half, before a numeral serves in the same way to reduce it by half of one. Thus, tengah dua signifies “one and a half,” or “two, less half a one,” as if the full phrase were korang sa-tengah dua; so tengah tiga-puloh, twenty-five (lit. “three tens save half”); tengah lima ratus, four hundred and fifty (lit. “five hundreds save half”).
Ordinal Numbers.
pertama (Sansk. prathama), first.
ka-dua, second.
ka-tiga, third.
ka-sa-bĕlas, eleventh.