four
Part of speech: num
noun
Morphological type: simple
Topics: ball-games
basketball
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
rowing
sports
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).
Inflected forms:
form: fower
pos: num
tags: alternative
Northumbria
form: fouh
pos: num
tags: alternative
pronunciation-spelling
form: fours
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: fower
pos: noun
tags: alternative
Northumbria
form: fouh
pos: noun
tags: alternative
pronunciation-spelling
Senses:
gloss: A numerical value equal to 4; the number after three and before five; two plus two. This many dots (••••)
pos: num
examples: There are four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.
Venters began to count them—one—two—three—four—on up to sixteen.
Redding’s study asked four psychologists with expertise in anxiety and depressive disorders to rate each self-help book on five criteria: […]
gloss: Describing a set or group with four elements.
pos: num
gloss: The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: Anything measuring four units, as length.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: Do you have any more fours? I want to make this a little taller.
gloss: Four o'clock.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Letters to Sheffield are despatched every morning at six, and arrive every afternoon at ten minutes past four.
Frederick, I presume, at this late hour of four, may be snatching a morsel of dinner; […]
The larger ships picked up the low lying atoll on their radar about four in the morning at distances from 16 to 26 miles.
gloss: A person who is four years old.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: A power forward.
pos: noun
tags: countable
gloss: Four-man sweep racing shell, with or without a coxswain.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The team bought a new four last season.
gloss: Four-man sweep racing shell, with or without a coxswain.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Our four won both races.
gloss: Four-man sweep racing shell, with or without a coxswain.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
countable
uncountable
examples: We got third place in the varsity four.
gloss: A four-pennyworth of spirits.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: 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.
Related words: fourth
farthing
Table of cardinal numbers 0 to 9 in various languages
4
肆
四
Δ΄
δ΄
IV
IIII
Derived words: 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
chaise and four
clue-by-four
clue by four
coach and 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
four-ball
fourball
four-belt
four-by-four
4X4
four-by-two
four by two
four color
four-color
four-colour
four color problem
four color theorem
four corners
Four Crosses
four-current
four-cycle
four-day weekend
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 flat
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
fourhanded
four-handed
four-hankie
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 man
four-letter word
four-lined wave
fourling
Four Marks
four-master
Four Mile Creek
four-minute warning
four-momentum
four more years
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
four score
fourscore
four score and seven years ago
four score and ten
four score seven years ago
four-seamer
four-seam fastball
four-seater
four-sheet
four sheets in the wind
four sheets to the wind
Four Shire Stone
four-shooter
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 stop
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
on 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
vinegar of the four thieves
within the four seas
rouf
Translations:
lang: Bulgarian
word: четворка
roman: četvorka
lang: Finnish
word: nelikko
lang: German
word: Doppelvierer