English

four

/foɹ/
A numerical value equal to 4; the number following three and preceding five.

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    Origin

    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).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishfour
      • inheritedOld Englishfēower
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*feuwar
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*fedwōr
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*kʷetwṓr
            • derivedProto-Germanicprevious

    Related: English quatre (doublet), English cuatro (doublet), Scots fower, Saterland Frisian fjauer, West Frisian fjouwer, Dutch vier, German Low German veer, German vier, Danish fire, Swedish fyra, Gothic 𐍆𐌹𐌳𐍅𐍉𐍂, Latin quattuor, Spanish cuatro, French quatre, Ancient Greek τέσσαρες, Irish ceathair, Welsh pedwar, Armenian չորս, Lithuanian keturi, Albanian katër, Sanskrit चतुर्

    Sources