What Year Is MMXVI? Reading Years in Roman Numerals

MMXVI is 2016: MM is 2000, X is 10 and VI is 6. Every year written in Roman numerals breaks down the same way, from the thousands on the left to the units on the right, and you can read it by splitting it into those groups.

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  1. Read a year place by place
  2. Years you are likely to see
  3. When the year has a typo
  4. Check your answer

Read a year place by place

Years from 1000 to 3999 always start with M's for the thousands. After that come the hundreds, the tens and the units, each written on its own:

NumeralThousandsHundredsTensUnitsYear
MMXVIMM—XVI2016
MCMXCIXMCMXCIX1999
MDCCLXXVIMDCCLXXVI1776
MMXXVIMM—XXVI2026

A dash means that place is zero and is simply missing. That's why 2016 has no hundreds group: there is nothing between MM and X.

The trick is to spot the subtractive pairs first (CM, CD, XC, XL, IX, IV). Each of them is a single group. In MCMXCIX you see M, then CM (900), then XC (90), then IX (9): 1000 + 900 + 90 + 9 = 1999.

Years you are likely to see

Here are some years worked out step by step:

  • MM = 2000
  • MMX = 2000 + 10 = 2010
  • MMXV = 2000 + 10 + 5 = 2015
  • MMXVI = 2000 + 10 + 6 = 2016
  • MMXX = 2000 + 20 = 2020
  • MCMXC = 1000 + 900 + 90 = 1990
  • MCMLXXXIV = 1000 + 900 + 80 + 4 = 1984

When the year has a typo

Years copied from a screen, a photo or a printed page often come with a digit where a letter should be. The most common case is the digit 1 instead of the letter I:

  • MMXV1 is meant as MMXVI = 2016.
  • MMX11 is meant as MMXII = 2012.
  • MCMXC1X is meant as MCMXCIX = 1999.

None of these is a valid Roman numeral, because 1 is not a Roman symbol. The validator shows exactly which character is wrong:

WrittenCorrectWhat's wrong
MMXV1Meant: 2,016MMXVIOnly I, V, X, L, C, D and M are Roman numerals.
MMX11Meant: 2,012MMXIIOnly I, V, X, L, C, D and M are Roman numerals.
MMXVIIIIMeant: 2,019MMXIXA symbol can repeat at most three times in a row.
MCMXCVIIIIMeant: 1,999MCMXCIXA symbol can repeat at most three times in a row.

The last two rows are a different slip: four I's in a row instead of IX. 2019 is MMXIX and 1999 is MCMXCIX.

Check your answer

Two quick checks tell you whether your reading is right:

  1. The groups go down. Thousands, then hundreds, then tens, then units. If a smaller group appears before a larger one (other than the six pairs), something is off.
  2. No symbol four times in a row. MMMM, CCCC, XXXX and IIII are never standard.

If both checks pass and the total is between 1000 and 3999, you have the year.

Read or write any yearType a year in Roman numerals or in digits and get the other form, with the breakdown.