four
AI In plain words
Writing a short explanation…
Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.
four
- /foɹ/
- [foːɾ] Scotland, South Asia
- [fɔː] UK
- [foː] Australia, British, New Zealand, Southern, Standard
- [foə]
- [foʊ]
- [foː]
Sounds like for, faugh, foe, faux, for (horse–hoarse merger), Thor (th-fronting, horse–hoarse merger), thaw (non-rhotic, th-fronting, horse–hoarse merger) · Rhymes with -ɔː(ɹ)
Where it comes from
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).
number fower · fouh
- A numerical value equal to 4; the number following three and preceding five. There are four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.
- Describing a set or group with four elements.
noun fours · fower · fouh
- The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.
- Anything measuring four units, as length. Do you have any more fours? I want to make this a little taller.
- Four o'clock. Letters to Sheffield are despatched every morning at six, and arrive every afternoon at ten minutes past four.
- A person who is four years old. I'll take the threes, fours and fives and go to the playground.
- 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.
- A power forward.
- The shell itself. The team bought a new four last season.
- The crew rowing in a four boat. Our four won both races.
- A regatta event for four boats. We got third place in the varsity four.
- A four-pennyworth of spirits. 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.
