Etymograph

English

fourth

Fourth comes from Old English fēorþa, from Proto-Germanic *fedurþô ‘fourth’, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwr̥tós ‘fourth’, from *kʷetwóres ‘four’.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷetwóres1‘four’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷetwr̥tós1‘fourth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fedurþô2‘fourth’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*feurþō2‘fourth’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fēorþa2‘fourth’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500ferthe2
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fourthe2
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1830fourth2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Proto-Germanic *fedurþô
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English fourth
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1830, Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, London: “If he remembered rightly what took place in the…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷetwóresWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *fedurþô‘four’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kʷetwr̥tósWiktionary, Proto-Germanic *fedurþô‘fourth’reconstructed
  3. Proto-Germanicc. 500 BCE–200 CE*fedurþôWiktionary, English fourth‘fourth’reconstructed
  4. Proto-West Germanicc. 200–500 CE*feurþōWiktionary, English fourth‘fourth’reconstructed
  5. Old Englishc. 450–1150fēorþaWiktionary, English fourth‘fourth’
  6. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fertheWiktionary, English fourth
  7. Middle Englishc. 1150–1500fourtheWiktionary, English fourth
  8. Englishearliest quotation 1830fourthWiktionary, English fourth. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1830, Hansard’s Parliamentary Debates, London: “If he remembered rightly what took place in the…”

The story

Inherited from Middle English fourthe, an alteration (due to four) of ferthe, from Old English fēorþa, fēowerþa, from Proto-West Germanic *feurþō, from Proto-Germanic *fedurþô, equivalent to four + -th (ordinal suffix).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Word family

English words that share an ancestor with fourth, grouped by the ancestor they share, most familiar first.

through Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres ‘four’

  • quarry ← quarere ← quarreria ← quarrière ← *quadraria
  • cater ← quatre ← quatre ← quattuor
  • kern ← kerne ← ceithern ← ceithern ← quaterniō
  • quatre ← quattuor
  • carillon ← quarrillon ← quaterniōnem ← quaterniō ← quaternus
  • quire ← quayer ← quaier ← quaternus ← quater
  • cuatro ← quatro ← quattŭor ← *kʷettwōr
  • tetrad ← τετράς
  • quatrain ← quatre ← quatre ← quattuor

through Old English fēorþa

18 more relatives in the full family tree

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Today it means

adj The ordinal form of the number four.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “fourth”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Proto-Germanic *fedurþô. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres / fourth