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four

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Translingual

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Signal flag for the digit 4

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from English four.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

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four

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


ICAO/NATO radiotelephonic clear codes
code 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

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  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, 2001 October, archived from the original on 31 March 2019, page §5.2.1.4.3.1

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
English numbers (edit)
40
 ←  3 4 5  → 
    Cardinal: four
    Ordinal: fourth
    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

Etymology

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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

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Numeral

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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

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Terms derived from four
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Descendants

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  • 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

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See also

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Noun

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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

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  • (numeral): rouf (back slang)

Translations

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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

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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
Symbols of number four in various numeral systems

Anagrams

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French

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Etymology

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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

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Noun

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four m (plural fours)

  1. oven
  2. stove
  3. flop

Derived terms

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Descendants

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  • Louisiana Creole: fou

Further reading

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Istriot

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Etymology

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

Adverb

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four

  1. out, outside

Preposition

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four

  1. out, outside

Middle English

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

Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old English feōwer.

Pronunciation

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Numeral

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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.
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Descendants

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References

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  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

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old French forn, from Latin furnus.

Noun

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four m (plural fours)

  1. (Guernsey) oven

Walloon

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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four m (plural fours)

  1. hay
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