Why isn’t the number 11 pronounced onety one?

Answer 1

"Eleven in Old English is endleofan, and related forms in the various Germanic languages point back to an original Germanic *ainlif, "eleven." *Ainlif is composed of *ain-, "one," the same as our one, and the suffix *-lif from the Germanic root *lib-, "to adhere, remain, remain left over." Thus, eleven is literally "one-left" (over, that is, past ten), and twelve is "two-left" (over past ten)."
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/dict.asp?Word=eleven

So, why did "eleven" and "twelve" not end up simply conforming to the "teen" pattern is that these were common, well-established forms. And it is precisely the common, everyday words that are LEAST likely to submit to "rules". (That's why the "irregular" past tense verb forms -- had, were, went, etc-- and irregular plural forms --men, mice, geese-- are almost always found with simple, common words.)

Of course, there were some alternative forms out there. We still use an alternative word for twelve -- "do-zen" itself shows us that (compare German "zehn")-- though it has gained its own special use (for a GROUPING of twelve). In fact, the fact that many things were divided into units of twelve also helps explain why eleven and twelve were treated differently. (Note that the use of twelve has ancient roots. See for example the Mesopotamian mathematical system, which used both six [and its double twelve] and ten --and gave us our 12 hours, 60 seconds, etc) That is NOT to say that these number names originated in counting by twelve, simply that the later USE of twelve contributed to the names' not being changed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duodecimal#Origin

Answer 2

Not all cultures have based their number systems on base 10 like us. Many have used a base 12. The use of shorter nicknames for 11 and 12 reflects their ambiguous and historical status in other number systems. Also since they are used more frequently then the larger numbers, there is a tendency to use a shorter nickname for them rather than the full version used in the larger numbers

Answer 3

Because 10 isn't pronounced onety

Answer 4

Every language has fun ways of pronouncing and expressing numbers. Look at the French word for 97:

Quatre-vingt dix-sept: Four twenties, ten and seven.

Answer 5

why isn't twelve pronounced onety-two?
Even other languages have their own words for those numbers.

french- 11-onze 12-douze

Answer 6

Because the origin of a lot of words has nothing to do with english declension of words. don't be culturecentric when thinking about these things

Answer 7

because onety is not a word. get it.

Answer 8

It should really be pronounced oneteen and twelve should be twoteen

Answer 9

Becauses if you had to say $ 1.111.11 It would sound really silly.

Answer 10

Because it could be confused with "twootie-frutie".