I can[no|']t characterize these similarities better than by the

expression
word

“ find

a more appropriate
a better

word
name

for these similarities than “family

likenesses
similarities

”; for th[at|is] is

how the
the way the different

similarities overlap and cross one another which hold between the members of a family: build,

features
facial characteristics

, ˇthe colour of the eyes,

gait
walk

, temperament, etc. etc..– And I shall say the [“|‘]games[”|’] constitute a family.
And in the same way the kinds of numbers

(e.g.)
, for instance,

constitute a family. Why do we call something a “number”? Well, perha[s|p]s because it has a – (direct) – kinship

to some
with many

things which, ˇup to the present, we have ˇbeen called numbers in the past; and thereby, we may say, it receives an ˇgets related indirectly connection with to other [w|t]hings which we call by the same name. And we extend our concept of number, as we twist fibre on fibre in spining spinning a thread. And the strength of the thread does not lie in the fact that one fibre runs through the

Ts-226,49

through the whole length of it, but in the fact that many fibres overlap.
But if someone wished were to sa[y,|id]: “Then there is something ˇin common to all these

objects –
creations;

viz.
namelych

the disjunction of all these common

properties
features

”, then I should answer: Here you're are

just
merely

playing with a w[r|o]rd.

You may
One might

just as well say: something runs through the

whole
entire

thread

–
, namely

the uninterrupted overlapping of these fibres.

(2015–) Wittgenstein Source Bergen Nachlass Edition (WS-BNE). Edited by the Wittgenstein Archives at the University of Bergen under the direction of Alois Pichler. In: Wittgenstein Source, curated by Alois Pichler (2009–) and Joseph Wang-Kathrein (2020–). (N) Bergen: WAB.