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uncertainty as to the precise number to use, but it is desirable to define a general range: specifically, the terms "umpteen", "umpty", and "zillion". These are derived etymologically from the range affixes: • • • "-teen" (designating the range as being between 10 and 20) "-ty" (designating the range as being in one of the decades between 20 and 100) "-illion" (designating the range as being above 1,000,000; or, more generally, as being extremely large). The prefix "ump-" is added to the first two suffixes to produce the empty numbers "umpteen" and "umpty": it is of uncertain origin. There is a noticeable absence of an empty number in the hundreds range. Usage of empty numbers: ^ The word "umpteen" may be used as an adjective, as in " I had to go to umpteen stores to find shoes that fit." It can also be used to modify a larger number, usually "million", as in "Umpteen million people watched the show; but they still cancelled i t . " • "Umpty" is not in common usage. It can appear in the form "umpty-one" (parallelling the usage in such numbers as "twenty-one"), as in "There are umpty-one ways to do it wrong." "Umptyump" is also heard, though "ump" is never used by itself. ^ The word "zillion" may be used as an adjective, modifying a noun. The noun phrase normally contains the indefinite article "a", as in "There must be a zillion sites on the World Wide Web." • The plural "zillions" designates a number indefinitely larger than "millions" or "billions", 134