četiri (Serbo-Croatian)
Where does "četiri" come from?
The Serbo-Croatian word 'četiri' traces its roots directly back to the Proto-Slavic term '*četyre'. This, in turn, evolved from the even older Proto-Indo-European word '*kʷetwóres', a linguistic ancestor that shares a common heritage with the English word 'four'.
Full etymology tree
- četiri (Serbo-Croatian), 'four (4)'
- inherited *četyre (Proto-Slavic), 'four'
- inherited *ketū́res (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'four'
- inherited *kʷetwóres (Proto-Indo-European), 'four'
- derived *kʷet- (Proto-Indo-European)
- derived *kʷetu- (Proto-Indo-European)
- inherited *kʷetwóres (Proto-Indo-European), 'four'
- inherited *ketū́res (Proto-Balto-Slavic), 'four'
- inherited *četyre (Proto-Slavic), 'four'
Ancestors
- *četyre (Proto-Slavic)
- *kʷetwóres (Proto-Indo-European)
Descendants and derived words
- četvorica (Serbo-Croatian)
Updated July 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris