Should we say “item number” or “items number” when refering to “number of items”

grammatical-numbertechnical

Let's consider a table with multiple specified containers. Each of those containers has multiple items inside. We'd like to have that table to look like:

|Container_A | 7 |

Where the "7" answers the question: "how many items are in the container?".

Should I use "Item Number" as the table header or "Items Number"? Or perhaps both are incorrect and I should use "Number of items"?

Best Answer

In common usage, "Item Number" refers to an identifier assigned to a particular product so that it can be uniquely identified. For instance, the computer mouse I am using is item number "X08-70400", which you can look up online to see exactly what it looks like and to order an identical replacement.

"Items number" is incorrect because it appears to be a compound or attributive noun, which is almost always constructed with the first noun in the singular. (See When are attributive nouns plural? , Item queue vs items queue? Files list vs File list? , and linked questions from there for more info.)

"Number of Items" is reasonable and acceptable, as would be "Item count" (as suggested in a comment). In "Item count", "Item" is again an attributive noun (and is therefore singular). "Count" does not have a special meaning in combination with "item" the way "item number" does, so "item count" refers to an amount or quantity.

"Quantity" would also be a valid header for the field.

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