The Mikir word for twenty, ingkoi, is made up of the prefix ing-, and koi, formerly (before the loss of the final l) kol. Kachcha Naga has the same word, engkai, Kabui choi, koi, or kol. The word also appears in Garo (kol), Tipura (khol), and Deori-Chutiya (kwa), of the Boro group; Angami me-kwu, me-khi, mekko, Lhota me-kwi, mekwü, in the West and Central Naga groups; Maram and Sopvoma (make, makei), Tangkhul (maga), Phadeng (ma-kui), in the Naga-Kuki group, and Singpho khun. In the Kuki-Chin languages it is very common (Meithei kul, Siyin kul, Lai pö-kul, Shonshe ma-kul, Banjogi kul, Shö [Chin] kul, goi). There does not appear to be any trace of this word for a score in the Tibetan and Himalayan languages, where twenty is invariably rendered by "two-tens." [46] The Northern Indian word kori, which has the same meaning, has been compared with it; it is difficult, however, to imagine borrowing on one part or the other.
In the series of tens, 30 to 90, Mikir prefixes the multiplier: thòm-kèp, phili-kèp, phòngo-kèp, etc. The Boro group prefixes the tens (Garo sot-bri, 40, sot-bongga, 50, sot-dok, 60, etc.). [47] The Naga group has both systems; Angami prefixes the tens: lhi [48]-da, 40, lhi-pangu, 50, lhi-suru, 60; Lhota and Ao suffix them: Lhota tham-dro, 30, zü-ro, 40, rok-ro, 60; Ao semur' 30, lir' 40, rok-ur' 60. In the Kuki-Chin group the majority of dialects prefix the tens (Thado and Lushei som-thum 30, som-li 40, etc.), and this is also the rule for Kachcha Naga, Kabui, and Khoirao, as well as for all the languages classed by Dr. Grierson as Naga-Kuki. But the Shö or southern Chins not only have the same collocation as the Mikirs (thum-gip, mli-gip, ngha-gip)--an arrangement which also obtains in Burmese,--but use the same words. This coincidence is very striking.
The word for a hundred, pharo, bears no resemblance to any word expressing this numeral in the Boro languages. It agrees with the Angami kra, Kezhama kri, Sopvoma kre, and in a remarkable way with the words used by the Southern Chins (Taungtha ta-ya = tara, Chinbòk phya = phra, Yawdwin pra, Shö (Chin) krat). It will be seen that pha- in Mikir, k- in the Naga languages, and ta-, ph-, p- and k- in the Chin dialects, are numeral prefixes, and that the essential element of the numeral is ra (Mikir ro) or rat. It appears in this form, without any prefix, in several other Kuki-Chin languages.