means Numbers are the symbols and concepts we use to count, measure, label, and calculate — the abstractions behind quantity itself.

from From the Latin "numerus" (number, sum, rank), which flowed into Old French as "nombre" before settling into English. That intrusive "b" is a fossil of the French spelling, smuggled in even though no one really pronounces it. The Latin root is thought to be related to a Greek cousin "nemein," to distribute or allot — fitting for a word about parceling the world into countable shares.