Skip to content

"fourth" in seven languages

Meaningfourth

Spanish

cuarto

/ˈkwaɾto/

inherited

Also 'quarter' and 'room'.

French

quatrième

/katʁijɛm/

other source · quatre (QUATTUOR) + the ordinal ending -ième

Old French quart 'fourth' survives as un quart 'a quarter'.

Italian

quarto

/ˈkwarto/

inherited

Also 'quarter': un quarto d'ora.

Portuguese

quarto

/ˈkwahtu/

inherited

As a noun, quarto also means 'bedroom'.

Romanian

al patrulea

/al ˈpatrule̯a/

other source · patru 'four' ← Latin QUATTUOR, with the ordinal ending -lea

fem.: a patra

Catalan

quart

/kwart/

inherited

English

fourth

/fɔɹθ/

Indo-European kin · PIE *kʷetwer- 'four'

English → ItalianfourthquartoDistant cognateRelated only through Indo-European, thousands of years back (night ~ noche). But English has relatives: quarter, quart, quartet.What English and Italian share

The Latin ancestor

QUĀRTUM‘fourth’

All six sisters descend from it, unless marked otherwise below.

The story

Spanish and Italian keep Latin QUĀRTUS; French rebuilt its ordinals on the cardinals (quatre → quatrième) and kept quart for 'a quarter'. Four and QUATTUOR share an Indo-European root.

English relatives: quarter, quart, quartet

Learn it

Practice the Numbers deckQuiz a friend on it

In a sentence

  • esVivimos en la cuarta planta.
  • frNous habitons au quatrième étage.
  • itAbitiamo al quarto piano.
  • ptMoramos no quarto andar.
  • roLocuim la etajul al patrulea.
  • caVivim al quart pis.
  • enWe live on the fourth floor.

More in Numbers

All Numbers words