four (English)

Where does "four" come from?

The English noun 'four' descends from Middle English 'four', which came from Old English 'fēower'[1]. This Old English term traces back through Proto-West Germanic '*feuwar' and Proto-Germanic '*fedwōr'[1][3], an ancestral form that shifted through early Germanic sound changes from the Proto-Indo-European root '*kʷetwṓr' or '*kʷetwóres'[1][4]. The word shares deep historical ties with numerous Indo-European cognates, including Latin 'quattuor', Spanish 'cuatro', French 'quatre', and Sanskrit 'चतुर्'[1].

Open questions

The Proto-Germanic form '*fedwōr' exhibits an irregular consonant change from Proto-Indo-European '*kʷetwṓr' that was likely influenced by the word for five, '*pénkʷe'. [4]
Because Proto-Indo-European '*kʷetwor-' contains too many consonants to be a true primitive morpheme, the feminine stem tentatively suggests an elemental base of the shape '*kʷet-' or '*kʷetu-'. [6]

Full etymology tree

four (English), 'The digit or figure 4; an occurrence thereof.'
- inherited four (Middle English), 'four'
  - inherited feower (Old English), 'four'
    - inherited *feuwar (Proto-West Germanic), 'four'
      - derived *fewwār (Proto-West Germanic)
        inherited *fedwōr (Proto-Germanic), 'four'
        derived *petwṓr (Proto-Germanic)
        derived *kʷetwṓr (Proto-Indo-European)
        inherited *kʷetwóres (Proto-Indo-European), 'four'
        influenced by *pénkʷe (Proto-Indo-European), 'five'

Ancestors

four (Middle English)
feower (Old English)
*feuwar (Proto-West Germanic)
*fedwōr (Proto-Germanic)

Cognates and doublets

katër (Albanian)
τέσσαρες (Ancient Greek)
չորս (Armenian)
fire (Danish)
vier (Dutch)
cuatro (English)
quatre (English)
quatre (French)
vier (German)
veer (German Low German)
𐍆𐌹𐌳𐍅𐍉𐍂 (Gothic)
ceathair (Irish)

Descendants and derived words

rouf (English)

Sources

Updated September 2026

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Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris