Forty-Two Thousand Five Hundred in Numbers

How to write 42,500 in words

The number 42,500 is written “forty-two thousand five hundred” in British English. The hyphen in forty-two is not optional – every compound number from twenty-one to ninety-nine is hyphenated.

The simplest method is to read the figure in groups of three digits from the left and name each group:

1. 42,000 is 42 in the thousands place, so we write “forty-two thousand”.
2. 500 is what remains, written “five hundred”.
3. Join the groups in order, without “and” between them: “forty-two thousand five hundred”.

In running text the number is normally lowercase: “the fee is forty-two thousand five hundred pounds”. At the start of a sentence, in a heading, or on a legal document it takes capitals: Forty-Two Thousand Five Hundred. Formal documents often give both forms together, for example “forty-two thousand five hundred (42,500)”, so that a reader can check one against the other.

5 words · 27 letters · 42,500 = 42.5 × 1,000 (one thousand)

Forty-Two Thousand Five Hundred in figures

To turn “forty-two thousand five hundred” back into digits, work group by group. Each group word (billion, million, thousand) marks a block of three digits, so any block that is missing or short is padded with zeros. The result is 42,500, or 42500 without separators.

In expanded form: 42,000 + 500 = 42,500.

Commas go after every third digit counting from the right: 42,500. In Britain and the United States this is the standard grouping; in much of Europe the same number appears as 42.500, and international scientific style uses spaces: 42 500.

How to write 42,500 on a cheque

Banks read the amount in words as the legal amount, so it must be exact. Write the pounds in words, add the word pounds, and finish with only so that nothing can be added afterwards.

• With pence: add the pence after the pounds – “Forty-two thousand five hundred pounds and fifty pence only” for £42,500.50 – or write the pence as a fraction, “Forty-two thousand five hundred pounds 50/100”.
• US check: “Forty-two thousand five hundred and 00/100 dollars”. American cheques drop the “and” after the hundreds and put it before the cents.
• Bangladesh, India and Pakistan: the currency word comes first and the amount is counted in lakh and crore – “Taka forty-two thousand five hundred only”, with the figure written Tk. 42,500/=.

Read the full guide to writing a UK cheque or the guide to writing a cheque in Bangladesh for the layout, the date, and what to do if the words and figures disagree.

42,500 in British and American English

42,500 is spelled exactly the same way – “forty-two thousand five hundred” – in British and American English. The two varieties only differ when a number contains hundreds followed by tens or units, where British English adds “and”. Read more in our guide to British vs American English numbers.

42,500 in Bangla (বাংলায় ৪২,৫০০)

In Bangla, 42,500 is written ৪২,৫০০ using Bengali digits, and in words it is বিয়াল্লিশ হাজার পাঁচশো. Bangla has its own word for every number from one to ninety-nine, and above that it counts in হাজার (thousand), লাখ (lakh) and কোটি (crore), the same grouping used across Bangladesh and India.

On a cheque or invoice written in Bangla the amount reads বিয়াল্লিশ হাজার পাঁচশো টাকা মাত্র (“বিয়াল্লিশ হাজার পাঁচশো taka only”). In English on the same cheque it is Taka forty-two thousand five hundred only – see How to write a cheque in Bangladesh.

Common mistakes when writing 42,500

• Missing the hyphen. forty two thousand five hundred is a very common misspelling. Write forty-two thousand five hundred.
• Adding “and” between groups. forty-two thousand and five hundred is wrong – “and” only follows the hundreds, never the word thousand or million.
• Pluralising the group words. It is thousand, hundred, never “hundreds”, “thousands” or “millions” after a number.
• Using shorthand in formal documents. 42.5k is fine in a message, but a cheque or contract needs forty-two thousand five hundred or 42,500.
• Miscounting the zeros. 42,500 has 5 digits. Check the commas: every group between commas should have exactly three digits.

Other ways to write 42,500

Double 42,500 is 85,000 (eighty-five thousand).