# four
## Translingual

* Signal flag for the digit 4

### Alternative forms

* Four, FOUR

### Etymology

Borrowed from English four.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈfoa], like lower (non-rhotic)

### Noun

four
* (international standards) NATO & ICAO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the digit 4.
    Synonym: kartefour (ITU/IMO)
ICAO/NATO radiotelephonic clear codes :
| Alfa | Bravo | Charlie | Delta | Echo | Foxtrot | Golf | Hotel | India | Juliett | Kilo | Lima | Mike |
| November | Oscar | Papa | Quebec | Romeo | Sierra | Tango | Uniform | Victor | Whiskey | Xray | Yankee | Zulu |
| zero | one | two | three (tree) | four (fower) | five (fife) | six | seven | eight | nine (niner) | hundred | thousand | decimal |
ICAO/NATO vs ITU/IMO radiotelephonic clear codes for digits :
| ICAO/NATO | zero | one | two | three (tree) | four (fower) | five (fife) | six | seven | eight | nine (niner) |
| ITU/IMO | nadazero | unaone | bissotwo | terrathree | kartefour | pantafive | soxisix | setteseven | oktoeight | novenine |

### 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
### Etymology

* PIE word
* *kʷetwóres
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)
** (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fô, IPA: /fɔː(r)/
** (Scotland) IPA: /fo(ː)ɹ/
* (US)
** (General American) enPR: fôr, IPA: /foɹ/
** (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: fōr, IPA: /fo(ː)ɹ/
** (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA: /foə/
** Audio (US, without the horse–hoarse merger):(file)
** Audio (US, horse–hoarse merger):(file)
* (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA: /foː/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* (non-rhotic, dough–door merger, African-American Vernacular) IPA: /foʊ/
* Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
* (India)
** (Academic) enPR: fō, IPA: /fo(ː)/
** (Colloquial) enPR: fōr, IPA: /fo(ː)ɾ/
* Homophones: fore, foure
* Homophone: for (horse–hoarse merger)
* Homophone: faugh (non-rhotic, horse–hoarse merger)
* Homophones: foe, faux (non-rhotic, dough–door merger)
* Homophones: foe, faux, fore (Indian Academic)
* Homophone: fore (Indian Colloquial)

### 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

* all-fours
* all fours
* all-run four
* back four
* be lost to the four winds
* 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
* Fouracre
* four-ale
* four ale
* four-ale bar
* four-and-nine
* four-and-twenty
* four and twenty
* Four Ashes
* four-bagger
* fourball
* 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 figures
* four fingers
* Four Floors of Whores
* four flush
* four-flush
* four-flusher
* fourfold
* four-fold
* four-foot
* four foot
* fourfooted, four-footed
* four-force
* four-four time
* four F's
* fourgie
* fourgon
* fourgram
* four-half
* four-handed
* fourhanded
* four horsemen
* four hundred
* four-in-hand
* fourish
* four L
* Four Lane Ends
* four-leaf
* four-leaf clover
* four-leafed clover
* four-leaved clover
* four-legged
* four-legged emmet
* four-legged friend
* four-letter
* four-letter word
* four-lined wave
* fourling
* Four Marks
* four-master
* four-minute warning
* four-momentum
* fourness
* 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
* fourpartite
* four-peat
* fourpeat
* fourpence
* fourpenny
* four-penny nail
* four penny nail
* fourpiece
* four pips
* fourplay
* fourplex
* four-point
* four-point Calvinist
* four-post bed
* four-poster
* four-poster bed
* four-pounder
* four-quadrant
* four-ring
* Four-Russians
* 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
* four-sided
* foursies
* foursome
* four-speed
* fourspine
* four square
* foursquare
* four-square
* four-stacker
* four-star
* four-string banjo
* four-string guitar
* four-stroke
* four-stroke engine
* four-stroking
* fourteen
* fourth
* four thieves' vinegar
* four thousand
* fourtino
* 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
* piano four hands
* plus fours
* rare as a four-leaf clover
* rule of four
* stretch four
* sweet four o'clock
* ten-four
* thirty-four
* three-four time
* train-of-four
* twenty-four hour day
* two by four
* two-by-four
* two-four
* two-four time
* vanish to the four winds
* within the four seas

#### Related terms

* fourth

#### 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

#### 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; […]
** 1972, George Carroll Dyer, chapter XVII, in The Amphibians Came to Conquer: The Story of Admiral Richmond Kelly Turner‎, 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.
* 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.
* (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.

#### See also

English terms 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 |
* Arabic numerals: 4
* Chinese numerals: 肆, 四
* Greek numerals: (uppercase) Δ΄, (lowercase) δ΄
* Roman numerals: IV or IIII

### Anagrams

* Rufo, furo, rouf, rufo-, uORF

## 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

* IPA: /fuʁ/
* Audio:(file)
* Rhymes: -uʁ

### Noun

four m (plural fours)
* oven
* stove
* flop

#### 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

* fournaise
* fourneau

#### Descendants

* Louisiana Creole: fou

### Further reading

* “four”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

## Istriot
### Etymology

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

### Adverb

four
* out, outside

### Preposition

four
* out, outside

## Middle English
### Alternative forms

* fore, feour, fower, fowwre, foure, fowr, vour

### Etymology

From Old English feōwer.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /fɔu̯r/, /fuːr/
* (Early Middle English) IPA: /ˈføːwər/

### 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 erþeAnd 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

* ferthe
* fourtene
* fourty

#### Descendants

* English: four
* Geordie English: fower
* Scots: fower
* Yola: vour, voure, vowre

#### References

* ↑ Jordan, Richard (1974) Eugene Crook, transl., Handbook of the Middle English Grammar: Phonology (Janua Linguarum; 214)‎, The Hague: Mouton & Co. N.V., →DOI, § 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)
* (Guernsey) oven

## Walloon
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /fuːʀ/

### Noun

four m (plural fours)
* hay