four
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See also: fore
Translingual
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| Signal flag for the digit 4 |
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
four
- (international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 4.
- Synonym: kartefour (ITU/IMO)
References
- ^ Annex 10 to the Convention on International Civil Aviation: Aeronautical Telecommunications; Volume II Communication Procedures including those with PANS status, 6th edition, International Civil Aviation Organization, 2001 October, archived from the original on 31 March 2019, page §5.2.1.4.3.1
English
| 40 | ||
| ← 3 | 4 | 5 → |
|---|---|---|
| Cardinal: four Ordinal: fourth Latinate ordinal: quartary, quaternary Reverse order ordinal: fourth to last, fourth from last, last but three Latinate reverse order ordinal: preantepenultimate Adverbial: four times Multiplier: fourfold Latinate multiplier: quadruple Distributive: quadruply Group collective: foursome Multipart collective: quadruplet Greek or Latinate collective: tetrad Greek collective prefix: tetra-, tessera- Latinate collective prefix: quadri- Fractional: quarter, fourth Latinate fractional prefix: quadrant- Elemental: quadruplet Greek prefix: tetarto- Number of musicians: quartet Number of years: quadrennium, olympiad | ||
Etymology
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, Armenian չորս (čʻors), Lithuanian keturi, Albanian katër, Sanskrit चतुर् (catur).
Pronunciation
- (UK)
- (US)
- (General American) enPR: fôr, IPA(key): /fɔɹ/
- (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: fōr, IPA(key): /fo(ː)ɹ/
- (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA(key): /foə/
(without horse–hoarse merger)Audio (US) (file)
(with horse–hoarse merger)Audio (US) (file)
- (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA(key): /foː/
Audio (AU) (file) - (non-rhotic, dough-door merger, AAVE) IPA(key): /foʊ/
- Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
- Homophones: fore, foure
- Homophone: for (accents with the horse–hoarse merger)
- Homophone: faugh (in non-rhotic dialects with the horse-hoarse merger)
- Homophones: foe, faux (in non-rhotic dialects with the dough-door merger)
Numeral
four
- A numerical value equal to 4; the number after three and before five; two plus two. This many dots (••••)
- There are four seasons: winter, spring, summer and autumn.
- 1912 January, Zane Grey, chapter 8, in Riders of the Purple Sage , New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, →OCLC:
- Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.
- Describing a set or group with four elements.
Derived terms
Terms derived from four
- all fours
- all-fours
- all-run four
- back four
- between you and me and these four walls
- boundary four
- clue by four
- clue-by-four
- coxless four
- cul-de-four
- figure four
- finger-four
- flat back four
- four-acceleration
- four-ale
- four ale
- four-ale bar
- four-and-nine
- four and twenty
- four-and-twenty
- Four Ashes
- four-bagger
- four-ball
- four-belt
- four-by-four/4X4
- four-by-two
- four by two
- four color
- four-color/four-colour
- four color theorem
- four corners
- Four Crosses
- four-current
- four-cycle
- four-dimensional
- four-dimensional chess
- four-dimensionalism
- four-dimensionality
- four-dimensionally
- four-door
- four door house
- four-eyed
- four-eyed fish
- four-eye principle
- four-eyes
- four eyes
- four-fifths
- four fingers
- four-flush
- four flush
- four-flusher
- fourfold
- four-fold
- four-foot
- four foot
- fourfooted/four-footed
- four-force
- four-four time
- four F's
- four-half
- four-handed
- four horsemen
- four hundred
- four-in-hand
- four L
- Four Lane Ends
- four-leaf
- four-leaf clover
- four-leafed clover
- four-leaved clover
- four-legged
- four-legged friend
- four-letter
- four-letter word
- four-lined wave
- fourling
- Four Marks
- four-master
- four-minute warning
- four-momentum
- Four Oaks
- four o'clock
- four-o'clock
- four o'clock flower
- four-o'clock flower
- four of a kind
- four-of-a-kind
- four oh four
- four one one
- four-on-the-floor
- four on the floor
- four-peat
- fourpence
- fourpenny
- four-penny nail
- four penny nail
- four pips
- fourplex
- four-point
- four-point Calvinist
- four-post bed
- four-poster
- four-poster bed
- four-pounder
- four-quadrant
- four-ring
- four-score
- fourscore
- four score
- four score and seven years ago
- four score and ten
- four score seven years ago
- four-seamer
- four-seam fastball
- four-sheet
- four sheets in the wind
- four sheets to the wind
- Four Shire Stone
- foursome
- four-speed
- foursquare
- four-square
- four square
- four-stacker
- four-star
- four-string banjo
- four-string guitar
- four-stroke
- four-stroke engine
- four-stroking
- fourth
- four thieves' vinegar
- four thousand
- four-top
- four-to-the-floor
- four-track, four-tracked
- four-tracking
- four treasures of the study
- four-twenty
- four twenty
- four-vector
- four-velocity
- four-wall
- four-waller
- four-walling
- four-way
- four-way cock
- four-way switch
- four-wheel
- four-wheel drive, four-wheel-drive
- four-wheeled
- four-wheeler
- four-wheeling
- four winds hat
- gang of four
- grade four
- history of the four kings
- last four
- match-four game
- Mother Thumb and her four daughters
- number four
- on all fours
- plus fours
- rare as a four-leaf clover
- rule of four
- stretch four
- ten-four
- thirty-four
- train-of-four
- two-by-four
- two by four
- two-four
Related terms
Descendants
Translations
the cardinal number 4
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describing set or group with four components
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)
- (countable) The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
- (countable) Anything measuring four units, as length.
- Do you have any more fours? I want to make this a little taller.
- 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 , 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; […]
- A person who is four years old.
- I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground.
- (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.
- (basketball, countable) A power forward.
- (rowing) Four-man sweep racing shell, with or without a coxswain.
- The shell itself.
- The team bought a new four last season.
- The crew rowing in a four boat.
- Our four won both races.
- (colloquial) A regatta event for four boats.
- We got third place in the varsity four.
- The shell itself.
- (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
digit or figure 4
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four years old
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in cricket
basketball: power forward — see power forward
rowing: four-man sweep racing shell or its crew
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four-pennyworth of spirits
- 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
| Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text) | ||||||
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| ace | deuce, two | three | four | five | six | seven |
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| eight | nine | ten | jack, knave | queen | king | joker |
Symbols of number four in various numeral systems
- Arabic numerals: 4
- Chinese numerals: 肆, 四
- Greek numerals: (uppercase) Δ΄, (lowercase) δ΄
- Roman numerals: IV or IIII
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)
Derived terms
- au four
- avoir une brioche au four
- enfourner
- être au four et au moulin
- faire un four
- four à micro-ondes
- gant de four
- noir comme dans un four
- petit four
Related terms
Descendants
- Louisiana Creole: fou
Further reading
- “four”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.
Istriot
Etymology
From Latin foris, foras. Compare Italian fuori, Friulian fûr, Dalmatian fure, Venetian fora.
Adverb
four
Preposition
four
Middle English
| 40 | ||
| ← 3 | 4 | 5 → |
|---|---|---|
| Cardinal: four Ordinal: ferthe | ||
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English feōwer.
Pronunciation
Numeral
four
- four
- c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.), published c. 1410, Apocalips 6:8, page 119r, 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.
Related terms
Descendants
References
- ^ Jordan, Richard (1974) Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum; 214), The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., , § 109, page 128.
- ^ “four, num.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norman
Alternative forms
- fou (Jersey)
Etymology
From Old French forn, from Latin furnus.
Noun
four m (plural fours)
Walloon
Pronunciation
Noun
four m (plural fours)