Date to Words Converter: How To Write Out and Say the Date May 8th 1642 in Words (Birthday) in US American and UK British English

Convert and write out the date
05-08-1642 = May 8th, 1642
in words, in American and British English

A calendar date is a way of referring to a specific day in the calendar. A complete date consists of the day, the month and the year, for example: mm-dd-yyyy or dd-mm-yyyy. In American English date representation, the month comes before the day, followed by the year, as in mm-dd-yyyy. In British English the day comes before the month, followed by the year, as in dd-mm-yyyy.

American English date representation:

  • Calendar dates are always part of a calendar, the most used currently in the world being the Gregorian calendar, which is an improvement of the Julian one.
  • In American English date representation, the month comes before the day, followed by the year.
  • This is called middle endian representation: the middle significant value, the month, comes first.
  • The day is the least significant value, the year is the most significant value in the sequence.

May the eighth, sixteen forty-two


* The definite article 'the' can be left out:


May eighth, sixteen forty-two

British English (UK) date representation:

  • In British English (UK) date representation the day comes before the month, followed by the year.
  • This is called little endian representation: the least significant value, the day, comes first.
  • The month has middle significance and the year is the most significant.

British English (UK)
08-05-1642 = 8th May, 1642
Convert and Spell Out the Date, in Words:


the eighth of May, sixteen forty-two


In British English the day is said first, followed by the month.



Middle endian

  • In American English date representation, the month comes before the day, followed by the year, as in mm-dd-yyyy. This is called middle endian representation: the middle significant value, the month, comes first. The day is the least significant value, the year is the most significant value in the sequence.

Little endian

  • In British English (UK) date representation the day comes before the month, followed by the year, as in dd-mm-yyyy. This is called little endian representation: the least significant value, the day, comes first. The month has middle significance and the year is the most significant.

Big endian

  • Big-endian is a term which is related to an order in which the most significant value in the sequence comes first, so, in our case, the year, usually followed by the month and then by the day, as in yyyy-mm-dd.

Notes on Writing Out Numbers and Years:

  • 1: In American English, unlike British English, when writing out years of three or more digits, the word 'and' is not used after 'hundred' or 'thousand'; i.e. 963 is written out as 'nine sixty-three' (American English) and not as 'nine hundred and sixty-three' (British English); 2025 is 'two thousand twenty-five' (American English) and not 'two thousand and twenty-five' (British English).
  • 2. Up to 1999 the years are spoken as hundreds, but for shortening, the words 'hundred and' are omitted: i. e. 1999 = 'nineteen (hundred and) ninety-nine' = 'nineteen ninety-nine'.
  • 3. After the year 2000 the years are spoken as normal numbers, but for shortening, in colloquial language, the years are pronounced in groups of two: i. e. 2000 = 'two thousand'; 2001 = 'two thousand (and) one', but also 'twenty oh one'.
  • 4. Do not use commas when writing in digits years above 999; i.e. it is 1234; 1973, 2021, and not 1,234; 1,973, 2,021.
  • 5: It's correct to hyphenate all compound numbers from 'twenty-one' (21) through 'ninety-nine' (99). The hyphen is the minus sign, as in 'thirty-four' (34).

How to write and say the date in both American and British English

1. How to write and say the date in American English

  • Rule of order: Month Day Year;
  • You write using numbers: 07-15-2018 = July 15th, 2018;
  • You write and say: "July (the)* fifteenth, twenty eighteen" OR "July (the)* fifteenth, two thousand eighteen";
  • * The definite article "the" can be left out.

2. How to write and say the date in British English

  • Rule of order: Day Month Year;
  • You write using numbers: 15-07-2018 = 15th July, 2018;
  • You write and say: "the fifteenth of July, twenty eighteen" OR "the fifteenth of July, two thousand and eighteen";

3. It is common to use numbers instead of months

  • 04-05-2018 is April 5th, 2018 according to the American English standard, but it is 4th May, 2018 by the British English.
  • 01-09-2020 is January 9th, 2020 according to the American English standard, but it is 1st September, 2020 by the British English.
  • 07-03-2022 is July 3rd, 2022 according to the American English standard, but it is 7th March, 2022 by the British English.