Meroitic Cursive Number Forty Thousand

𐧧 represents 40,000 in Meroitic.

Meroitic values above 100 combine a multiplier with a sign for rank. The separate Meroitic sign for forty is 𐧌.

Why did Kushite writers use these numerals?

They recorded amounts and dates in everyday writing.

As Egyptian script use declined in Kush, cursive Meroitic served general writing; Meroitic hieroglyphs were used for royal and temple inscriptions. Cursive appears by about 200 BCE. Its script drew on Egyptian Demotic, an Egyptian everyday script, while its numerals resemble late Hieratic, another cursive Egyptian form. A royal inscribed stone from the late first century BCE preserves early numerals. By the sixth century CE, Coptic writing had replaced Meroitic scripts, borrowing three cursive signs for Nubian.