What does M stand for in Roman numerals?
M stands for 1,000 in Roman numerals. It is the largest of the seven basic Roman numeral symbols, so MM means 2,000 and MMM means 3,000.
The symbol M is linked with the Latin word mille, meaning thousand, which also gives us words like millennium and millimeter. Historians think the symbol may have developed from older forms of writing 1,000, such as a circle with a line through it, which later came to look like the letter M.
M is used to build large numbers. MD is 1,500, MCM is 1,900 and MM is 2,000. Because M is the largest standard symbol, numbers of 4,000 or more were hard to write in the basic system. MMM, for 3,000, is often considered the practical limit.
Bigger numbers
The Romans and later writers used extra marks for very large numbers. A horizontal line over a numeral, called a vinculum, multiplied its value by 1,000, so V with a bar above it meant 5,000. In everyday use, though, Romans often wrote large numbers in words instead.
Did You Know?
In business, the letter M is still sometimes used to mean thousand, as in a price of 10M, although many people now use it to mean million.