antall

Etymology
Formed by the word tall ("number", "digit") and the prefix an-, which is borrowed from Low German and is akin to Old Norse á ("on"). Cognate with German Anzahl and Danish and Swedish antal.

Noun

 * 1) number, amount; abstract entity used to describe quantity
 * Folk møtte opp i stort antall på torget = a considerable number of people gathered at the square
 * Fienden var overlegen i antall = the enemy had superior numbers
 * Et antall sykler ble funnet gjenglemt i bakgården = a number of bikes were found left behind in the backyard
 * Antallet ulykker er proporsjonalt med antallet kjøretøyer = the number of accidents corresponds to the number of vehicles

Usage notes
The word is never declined in plural, only in definite and indefinite singular. When speaking of numerals, only the word tall is used, though it also can replace antall by saying: tallet på (due to -an-- mainly supplanting prepositions, such as på, "on"). Note that antall is not allowed in Nynorsk, which uses tal and mengd instead.

Synonyms
mengde (only in Bokmål), mengd (only in Nynorsk), tall (only in Bokmål)

Derived terms

 * et betydelig antall = a considerable number, considerable numbers
 * et stort antall = a large number of