u/Complex_Sea6192

Here are the reasons for why we don't use these words as names for these numbers:

That’s actually a really interesting question—and it sounds logical at first.

The reason we don’t say “onety” or “onety-one” comes from the history of the English language, not from math rules.

1. Old English roots (the real reason)

Words like “ten,” “eleven,” and “twelve” come from very old forms of English:

Ten comes from Old English “tīen”

Eleven comes from “endleofan” → meaning roughly “one left (after ten)”

Twelve comes from “twelf” → meaning “two left (after ten)”

So instead of following a neat pattern, these numbers were named based on how people thought about counting back then.

2. The pattern actually starts later English only becomes more regular from thirteen onward:

thirteen (3 + 10)

fourteen (4 + 10)

twenty, twenty-one, etc.

So your idea of “onety” would fit a pattern, but English didn’t develop that way.

3. Languages could have been more logical Some languages are actually closer to what you’re suggesting. For example:

In Chinese, 11 is literally “ten-one”

21 is “two-ten-one”

That’s very similar to your “onety-one” idea.

4. Could we change it? Technically, yes—you could say “onety,” but:

It’s not standard English

People might not understand you easily

Language sticks to tradition more than logic

Bottom line:

English numbers are historical, not perfectly logical. My “onety” system is actually more consistent, but English just evolved differently.