Which year is depicted by the Roman numerals MCMXCIX?

Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, each letter with a fixed integer value. Modern style uses only these seven:

I V X L C D M

1 5 10 50 100 500 1000

The notations IV and IX can be read as "one less than five" (4) and "one less than ten" (9).

Other common uses include year numbers on monuments and buildings and copyright dates on the title screens of movies and television programs. MCM, signifying "a thousand, and a hundred less than another thousand", means 1900, so 1999 is written MCMXCIX, where MCM is 1900, XC is 100 minus 10 which is 90 and IX is 10 minus 1 which is 9. 1900 + 90 + 9 then adds up to 1999.

For the years of the current (21st) century, MM indicates 2000. The current year is MMXXIV (2024).