Many tribes seem to regard 9 as "almost 10," and to give it a name which conveys this thought.

In the Mississaga, one of the numerous Algonquin languages, we have, for example, the word _cangaswi_, "incomplete 10," for 9.[55] In the Kwakiutl of British Columbia, 8 as well as 9 is formed in this way; these two numbers being _matlguanatl_, 10 - 2, and _nanema_, 10 - 1, respectively.[56] In many of the languages of British Columbia we find a similar formation for 8 and 9, or for 9 alone.

The same formation occurs in Malay, resulting in the numerals _delapan_, 10 - 2, and _sambilan_ 10 - 1.[57] In Green Island, one of the New Ireland group, these become simply _andra-lua_, "less 2," and _andra-si_, "less 1."[58] In the Admiralty Islands this formation is carried back one step further, and not only gives us _shua-luea_, "less 2," and _shu-ri_, "less 1," but also makes 7 appear as _sua-tolu_, "less 3."[59] Surprising as this numeral is, it is more than matched by the Ainu scale, which carries subtraction back still another step, and calls 6, 10 - 4.

The four numerals from 6 to 9 in this scale are respectively, _iwa_, 10 - 4, _arawa_, 10 - 3, _tupe-san_, 10 - 2, and _sinepe-san_, 10 - 1.[60] Numerous examples of this kind of formation will be found in later chapters of this work; but they will usually be found to occur in one or both of the numerals, 8 and 9.

Occasionally they appear among the higher numbers; as in the Maya languages, where, for example, 99 years is "one single year lacking from five score years,"[61] and in the Arikara dialects, where 98 and 99 are "5 men minus" and "5 men 1 not."[62] The Welsh, Danish, and other languages less easily accessible than these to the general student, also furnish interesting examples of a similar character.
More rarely yet are instances met with of languages which make use of subtraction almost as freely as addition, in the composition of numerals.
Within the past few years such an instance has been noticed in the case of the Bellacoola language of British Columbia.