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number

/ˈnʌmbər//ˈnʌmbə/·noun
how many separate, countable things there are
Fig. 1 — One by one the cubes come down and land on the saucer with a small dry knock, each settling a little apart from the last — one, then a pause, then another, then another.
01Definition

A number is how many there are of separate things you can count one by one — people, errors, marbles, days. Each unit is distinct, so you tally them rather than weigh or measure them, and the result is exact: three, forty, a thousand. It goes with 'many' and 'fewer' (a large number, a small number). From Latin numerus. Set it against amount, which is for a single uncountable mass. To say 'a number of' is a quiet way to say 'several' without fixing exactly how many.

02In use
  • iA growing number of students now study online rather than on campus.
  • iiThe number of errors fell sharply once the team began to scrutinize each draft.
  • iiiOnly a small number of species can adapt to such bitter cold.
03Collocations
  • a number of
  • a large number of
  • the total number
  • a growing number of
  • number of times

Family numerous (adjective) · numerical (adjective) · enumerate (verb)

04Relations

=quantity, count, total, tally, sum

05Compared
PairThe difference
number vs amountamount + uncountable mass (less water); number + countable plural (fewer bottles).
number vs figurea value as written in digits, or an officially reported amount → figure; the abstract count or quantity itself → number.
06TOEFL & IELTS

Number goes with countable nouns and takes many/fewer: 'the number of mistakes', 'a number of reasons'. The trap is swapping it with amount, which is for uncountable mass nouns (amount of water, not number of water; number of bottles, not amount of bottles) — the same logic behind fewer vs less. 'A number of' also reads as 'several', useful for hedging in academic writing.

07Asked
Is it 'the number of students is' or 'are'?
Is — 'the number of X' points at one figure, so it takes a singular verb: the number of students is rising. Flip the article and the grammar flips with it: 'a number of students are' means several students, and the verb follows them, not 'number'. One quantity versus several things — the article is the whole signal.
What is the difference between number and quantity?
Quantity is the broader measure-word: it accepts both countable and uncountable nouns (a quantity of coins, a quantity of water), while number insists on countables. Quantity also leans technical and neutral, at home in labs and logistics. For the neighbouring trap — number against amount — the amount vs number page in the 'Compared' list above settles it.
What is the difference between a number, a numeral and a digit?
A number is the idea of how many; a numeral is how you write it; a digit is a single building block. The count of cubes on the saucer in the scene above is the number; '4', 'four' and 'IV' are numerals recording it; and 153 is one numeral built from three digits. Everyday English blurs the three — mathematics does not.
Why is number abbreviated 'No.' when the word has no o after the n?
Because the abbreviation is not English: it clips the Latin numero, 'in number', a form of numerus — the same root that gives English numerous and enumerate. The shorthand took the word's first and last letters, No., sometimes styled as the numero sign №. English borrowed the abbreviation wholesale, spelling and all.