| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
Appendix I Indo-European Roots |
| ENTRY: | kwetwer- |
| DEFINITION: | Four. Derivatives include four, squad, quarantine, and farthing. I. O-grade form *kwetwor-. 1a. four, from Old English f  ower, four; b. forty, from Old English fowertig, forty; c. fourteen; fortnight, from Old English fowertne, fourteen (-tne, ten; see dek ). a–c all from Germanic *fe(d)wor-, probably from *kwetwor-. 2. quatrain; cater-cornered, quattrocento, from Latin quattuor, four. 3. czardas, from Old Iranian cathw r , four.II. Multiplicatives *kweturs, *kwetrus, and combining forms *kwetur-, *kwetru-. 1. cahier, carillon, carnet, casern, quaternary, quaternion, quire1, from Latin quater, four times. 2. cadre, quadrate, quadrille1, quarrel2, quarry2; escadrille, squad, square, trocar, from Latin quadrum, square. 3. quadri-, from Latin quadri-, four. 4. quadrant, from Latin quadr ns, a fourth part. 5. quarantine, from Latin quadrgint, forty (-gint, ten times; see dek). 6. quadricentenary, from Latin quadri(n)gent , four hundred. 7. Variant form *kwet(w) -. a. tetra-, from Greek tetra-, four; b. tessera; diatessaron, from Greek tessares, tettares, four; c. tetrad, from Greek tetras, group of four; d. zero-grade form *kwt(w)-. trapezium, from Greek tra-, four.III. Ordinal adjective *kwetur-to-. 1a. fourth, from Old English f ortha, fowertha, fourth; b. firkin, from Middle Dutch veerde, fourth; c. farthing, from Old English forthing, forthung, fourth part of a penny; d. filler2, from Old High German fiordo, fourth. a–d all from Germanic *fe(d)worthn-. 2. quadrille2, quadroon, quart, quartan, quarter, quarto, from Latin qurtus, fourth, quarter. (Pokorny k eter- 642.) |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. | |
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