Numeric substitution in Japanese

Common card · No. 231422

In Japanese, numeric substitution is a common form of goroawase (語呂合わせ, phonetic matching) by which numbers are substituted for homophonous words and phrases. Numeric substitution may be done as wordplay, but it is also used to produce abbreviations and mnemonic devices for memorizing information, such as telephone numbers and years in the study of history.