four

Translingual

Signal flag for the digit 4

Alternative forms

Etymology

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr
Proto-Germanic *fedwōr
Proto-West Germanic *feuwar
Old English fēower
Middle English four
English fourbor.
Translingual four

    Borrowed from English four. Doublet of vier.

    Pronunciation

    • IPA(key): [ˈfoa], like lower (non-rhotic)[1]

    Noun

    four

    1. (international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 4.
      Synonym: kartefour (ITU/IMO)
    ICAO/NATO radiotelephonic clear codesedit
    ITU/IMO radiotelephonic clear codesedit

    References

    1. ^ Annex 10 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Aeronautical Telecommunications; Volume II Communication Procedures including those with PANS status‎[1], 6th edition, International Civil Aviation Organization, October 2001, archived from the original on 31 March 2019, page §5.2.1.4.3.1

    English

    English numbers (edit)
    40
     ←  3 4 5  → 
        Cardinal: four
        Ordinal: fourth
        Abbreviated ordinal: 4th
        Latinate ordinal: quartary, quaternary
        Latinate reverse order ordinal: preantepenultimate
        Adverbial: four times
        Multiplier: fourfold
        Latinate multiplier: quadruple
        Distributive: quadruply
        Germanic collective: foursome
        Collective of n parts: quadruplet
        Greek or Latinate collective: tetrad
        Greek collective prefix: tetra-, tessera-
        Latinate collective prefix: quadri-
        Fractional: quarter, fourth
        Elemental: quadruplet
        Greek prefix: tetarto-
        Number of musicians: quartet
        Number of years: quadrennium, olympiad
        Quantile: quartile

    Alternative forms

    Etymology

    PIE word
    *kʷetwóres
    Etymology tree
    Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr
    Proto-Germanic *fedwōr
    Proto-West Germanic *feuwar
    Old English fēower
    Middle English four
    English four

      From Middle English four, from Old English fēower, from Proto-West Germanic *feuwar, from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr, from previous pre-Grimm *petwṓr, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwṓr, the neuter form of *kʷetwóres. Doublet of cuatro and quatre.

      Cognates include Scots fower, Saterland Frisian fjauer, West Frisian fjouwer, Dutch vier, German Low German veer, German vier, Norwegian Bokmål and Danish fire, Swedish fyra, Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐍅𐍉𐍂 (fidwōr) and, more distantly, Latin quattuor (whence Spanish cuatro, French quatre), Ancient Greek τέσσαρες (téssares), Irish ceathair, Welsh pedwar, Armenian չորս (čʻors), Lithuanian keturi, Albanian katër, Sanskrit चतुर् (catur).

      Pronunciation

      • IPA(key): /foɹ/

      Numeral

      four

      1. A numerical value equal to 4; the number following three and preceding five.
        There are four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.
      2. Describing a set or group with four elements.

      Derived terms

      Terms derived from four

      Descendants

      • Antigua and Barbuda Creole English: fuar, fua
      • Aukan: fo
      • Australian Kriol: fo
      • Belizean Creole: foa, foar
      • Bislama: fo
      • Cameroon Pidgin: fo̱
      • Grenadian Creole English: fo
      • Gullah: fo
      • Krio: fo
      • Nigerian Pidgin: fo̱r
      • Pichinglis: fo
      • Pijin: foa
      • Saramaccan: fɔ́
      • Sranan Tongo: fo
      • Tok Pisin: foa
      • Torres Strait Creole: po

      Translations

      See four/translations § Numeral.

      See also

      • Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages
      • Last: three, 3
      • Next: five, 5

      Noun

      four (countable and uncountable, plural fours)

      1. (countable) The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
      2. (countable) Anything measuring four units, as length.
        Do you have any more fours? I want to make this a little taller.
      3. Four o'clock.
        • 1828, Pigot and Co.'s National Commercial Directory for 1828-9, Comprising a Directory of the Merchants, Bankers, Professional Gentleman [...] in the Counties of Cheshire, Cumberland [...]‎[4], London; Manchester: J. Pigot & Co., page 767:
          Letters to Sheffield are despatched every morning at six, and arrive every afternoon at ten minutes past four.
        • 1865, Thomas Carlyle, chapter IX, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume VI, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC:
          Frederick, I presume, at this late hour of four, may be snatching a morsel of dinner; […]
        • 1972, George Carroll Dyer, chapter XVII, in The Amphibians Came to Conquer: The Story of Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner‎[5], volume 2, U.S. Marine Corps, →OL, page 657:
          The larger ships picked up the low lying atoll on their radar about four in the morning at distances from 16 to 26 miles.
      4. A person who is four years old.
        I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground.
      5. (cricket, countable) An event in which the batsmen run four times between the wickets or, more often, a batsman hits a ball which bounces on the ground before passing over a boundary, resulting in an award of 4 runs for the batting team. If the ball does not bounce before passing over the boundary, a six is awarded instead.
      6. (basketball, countable) A power forward.
      7. (rowing) Four-man sweep racing shell, with or without a coxswain.
        1. The shell itself.
          The team bought a new four last season.
        2. The crew rowing in a four boat.
          Our four won both races.
        3. (colloquial) A regatta event for four boats.
          We got third place in the varsity four.
      8. (obsolete) A four-pennyworth of spirits.
        • 1887, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, A Study in Scarlet, section IV:
          I was a-strollin' down, thinkin' between ourselves how uncommon handy a four of gin hot would be, when suddenly the glint of a light caught my eye in the window of that same house.

      Derived terms

      • (numeral): rouf (back slang)

      Translations

      The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
      Translations to be checked

      See also

      English terms starting with “four”

      Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text)
      ace deuce, two three, trey four, cater five, cinque six seven
      eight nine ten jack, knave queen king joker
      Symbols of number four in various numeral systems

      Anagrams

      French

      Etymology

        Inherited from Middle French four, from Old French four, forz, forn, from Latin furnus, from Proto-Italic *fornos, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰr̥-nós, from *gʷʰer- (“warm, hot”).

        Pronunciation

        Noun

        four m (plural fours)

        1. oven
        2. stove
        3. flop

        Derived terms

        Descendants

        • Louisiana Creole: fou

        Further reading

        Istriot

        Etymology

        From Latin foris, foras. Compare Italian fuori, Friulian fûr, Dalmatian fure, Venetan fora.

        Adverb

        four

        1. out, outside

        Preposition

        four

        1. out, outside

        Middle English

        Middle English numbers (edit)
        40
         ←  3 4 5  → 
            Cardinal: four
            Ordinal: ferthe

        Alternative forms

        Etymology

          Inherited from Old English feōwer, from Proto-West Germanic *feuwar, from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres.

          Pronunciation

          • IPA(key): /fɔu̯r/, /fuːr/[1]

          Numeral

          four (postpositive foure)

          1. four[2]
            • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎[6], published c. 1410, Apocalips 6:8, folio 119, recto, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:
              ⁊ lo a pale hoꝛs .· and þe name was deþ to him þat ſat on hym and helle ſuede him / and power was ȝouen to him on foure partis of þe erþe .· to ſle with ſwerd / ⁊ wiþ hungur / ⁊ wiþ deþ / ⁊ wiþ beeſtis of þe erþe
              And lo! A pale horse, and the name was Death for who that sat on him, and hell trailed him. And power was given to him over four parts of the earth, to slay with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the earth's creatures.

          Descendants

          References

          1. ^ Jordan, Richard (1974),  Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum. Series Practica; 218)‎[2], The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., →DOI, § 109, page 128.
          2. ^ “four, num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

          Norman

          Alternative forms

          Etymology

          From Old French forn, from Latin furnus.

          Noun

          four m (plural fours)

          1. (Guernsey) oven

          Walloon

          Pronunciation

          • IPA(key): /fuːʀ/

          Noun

          four m (plural fours)

          1. hay
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