See also: fore

Translingual edit

 
Signal flag for the digit 4

Etymology edit

From English four.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

four

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

References edit

  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 2019-03-31, page §5.2.1.4.3.1

English edit

 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
English numbers (edit)
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 edit

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 (čʿors), Lithuanian keturi, Albanian katër, Sanskrit चतुर् (catur).

Pronunciation edit

Numeral edit

four

  1. 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.
  2. Describing a set or group with four elements.

Derived terms edit

Terms derived from four

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

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

Translations edit

See also edit

Noun edit

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 [...][3], 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[4], 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 edit

  • (numeral): rouf (back slang)

Translations edit

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

See also edit

Pages starting with “four”.

Playing cards in English · playing cards (layout · text)
             
ace deuce, two three four five six seven
             
eight nine ten jack, knave queen king joker

Anagrams edit

French edit

Etymology edit

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 edit

Noun edit

four m (plural fours)

  1. oven
  2. stove
  3. flop

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

  • Louisiana Creole: fou

Further reading edit

Istriot edit

Etymology edit

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

Adverb edit

four

  1. out, outside

Preposition edit

four

  1. out, outside

Middle English edit

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

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Old English feōwer.

Pronunciation edit

Numeral edit

four

  1. four[2]
    • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎[5], 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 edit

Descendants edit

References edit

  1. ^ Jordan, Richard (1974),  Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum; 214)‎[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 edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From Old French forn, from Latin furnus.

Noun edit

four m (plural fours)

  1. (Guernsey) oven

Walloon edit

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

four m (plural fours)

  1. hay