Also spelled fo

US /foɹ/ UK /[fɔː]/
num noun adj Freq #421

Meanings

  1. 1
    num

    The number 4; one more than three.

    There are four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.

  2. 2
    noun

    The number 4.

    Add a four and a five to get nine.

Thesaurus

Word family
Forms fours
Derived forms rouf
Related forms farthingfourthiiiiivthree

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, Welsh pedwa…

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