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Nine, neun, negen

There are two types of words for 9 in the Germanic languages. Type 1 is g-less: there's German neun, Swedish nio, and Icelandic níu among others. Type 2 does have a g, as in Dutch negen, West Frisian njoggen, and Low Saxon negene. You'd think that English nine is type 1, but it used to have a g too: in Old English, it was nigon. It lost its g in Middle English. So did neun, nio and níu lost their g too? No, they've never had one. The g only evolved in the north-western branch of West Germanic. Words from other Indo-European branches, such as Latin novem, lack a g too. My new graphic tells you all about it.