何百(なんびゃく)

Combines 何(なに)/何(なん) (how many; what) + 百(ひゃく) (hundred). The 百(ひゃく) voices to びゃく after 何(なん). Almost always appears with a counter and the particle も to mean "hundreds of..."

Common collocations

• 何百(なんびゃく)人(にん)も: hundreds of people
• 何百(なんびゃく)年(ねん)も前(まえ): hundreds of years ago
• 何百(なんびゃく)回(かい)も: hundreds of times
• 何百(なんびゃく)冊(さつ)も: hundreds of (books)
• 何百(なんびゃく)万円(まんえん): several million yen (lit. "hundreds of ten-thousand yen")

Question use

Without も, 何百(なんびゃく)〜? can also ask "how many hundreds?": 何百(なんびゃく)人(にん)来(き)たの？ — "How many hundreds of people came?" — but the "hundreds of" reading is more common.

Similar words

• 何千(なんぜん): thousands of
• 何万(なんまん): tens of thousands of
• 何十(なんじゅう): tens of, dozens of