huitante

Huitante is a French numeral for the number 80 that is used in certain varieties of French, most notably in the French-speaking parts of Switzerland. It contrasts with the standard metropolitan French form quatre-vingts, which is used in France and many other Francophone regions.

Usage and variants: In Swiss French, tens are often named with septante for 70, huitante or octante for 80, and nonante for 90. Spelling varies by canton; huitante is common, while octante appears in older texts and in some regional usages. The form is largely regional and is not part of standard French outside of Francophone Switzerland.

Etymology and linguistic notes: Huitante derives from huit (eight) plus the suffix -ante, mirroring other Swiss forms like septante and nonante. This reflects a regional decimal counting system for the 70–90 range, as opposed to the French metropolitan counting method quatre-vingts (eighty), which is based on twenty.

Regional status: In France and Belgium, quatre-vingts remains the prevailing form for eighty; in Swiss Romandy, huitante and nonante (for 70 and 90) are common in writing and speech in many cantons. The exact variant in use can vary by locality and speaker.

See also: septante, nonante, quatre-vingts.