What is your lucky number? If you had to choose a number for yourself, what would it be? Have you ever thought about the lucky and unlucky numbers in the world? Lucky and unlucky numbers are very different in the east and the west. Let’s take a look at some numbers!

Number 1

This number is considered to be lucky or neutral.

Reason: Everyone likes to be that “number 1”, I mean, who doesn’t? In baseball, #1 is usually the ace.

Number 3

This number is considered a lucky number in countries such as China, Italy, Sweden, and the U.S.

Reason: There is an idiom, “All good things must come in three”. A Chinese proverb goes that “The wisdom of three ordinary people exceeds that of the wisest individual.”

Are you a fan of the number “3”?

Number 4

The number “4” is often considered an unlucky number in Asian countries with a Chinese or Japanese influence. The sound of “4” is similar to that of the Chinese word “death”. Therefore, in many public facilities such as hotels, apartments or even parking lots, they’d try to avoid this number.

However, in Germany, number “4” is considered a lucky number because it matches the number on the lucky “four-leaf clover”.

Number 7

In most western countries, number “7” is considered the “lucky 7”. There are seven days in a week, seven continents and in numerology, 7 means spiritual, intelligent, focused, inner wisdom and so on. Number “7” is also a popular number among a lot of athletes because they believe this number brings good luck.

Number 8

Number “8” is considered a popular number in countries such as China, Japan or any countries with a Chinese or Japanese influence. The number “8” sounds similar to prosper and get rich.

Number 9

In the Chinese culture, the number “9” can mean “a long time” or “everlasting”. However, in Japan it is considered an unlucky number because the sound of “9” is similar to “suffering”.

Some basketball players love wearing number “9” because Michael Jordan wore this number to represent Team U.S.A. at the 1992 summer Olympics.

Number 13

This number is commonly known as an unlucky number in western countries. The number has ties to many events in the past, from the Mayan Calendar to the Last Supper. On top of that, I’m sure most of you have heard “Friday the 13th”. In numerology, the number “13” is a karmic number which has great power. If the power falls into the wrong hands, it will bring destruction and can be catastrophic.

Honourable mentions

In Russia, odd numbers are considered lucky numbers whereas even numbers are considered unlucky. If you are visiting someone or going on a date, you should always make sure that your bouquet has an odd number of flowers as Russians only bring even number of flowers to cemeteries.

In countries with Chinese influence, “168” is a super number. It is roughly homophonous with the phrase “一路發”, which means “fortune all the way”.

Do you know any other numbers that have meanings behind them?

If so, please comment below!

- KEBII -