Meanings
forty1
numeral
alternative obsolete fourty
- The cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine and before forty-one, represented in Roman numerals as XL and in Arabic numerals as 40.
'Tis forty years this very day, Since you and I, old girl, were married.
1825, unknown, Harrison's Amusing Picture and Poetry Book, page 35Synonyms: twoscore
forty2
adjectiveforty (comparative more forty, superlative most forty)
comparative more forty · superlative most forty · alternative obsolete fourty
- Resembling or characteristic of a fort.
Synonyms & antonyms
numeralThe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine and before forty-one, represented in Roman numerals as XL and in Arabic numerals as 40.
Similar
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
forty · numeral, noun
- Proto-Indo-European*kʷetwṓr
- Proto-Germanic*fedwōr
- Proto-Indo-European*déḱm̥
- Proto-Indo-European*déḱm̥-t(-s)
- Proto-Germanic*tegun(dz)
- Proto-Germanic*tigiwiz
- Proto-Germanic*fedwōr tigiwiz
- Proto-West Germanic*feuwar tigiwi
- Old Englishfēowertiġ
- Middle Englishfourty
- Englishforty
From Middle English fourty, forty, from Old English fēowertiġ, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr tigiwiz (“forty”). By surface analysis, four + -ty.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans veertig
- veertigthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Ancient Greek τεσσεράκοντα, μ΄
- τεσσεράκοντα (tesserákonta)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- μ΄the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Arabic أَرْبَعُونَ
- أَرْبَعُونَ (ʔarbaʕūna)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Basque berrogei
- berrogeithe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Bengali চল্লিশ
- চল্লিশ (colliś)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Bulgarian четири́десет, четири́йсет
- четири́десет (četirídeset)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- четири́йсет (četiríjset)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Catalan quaranta
- quarantathe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Chinese Cantonese 四十
- 四十 (sei³ sap⁶)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Chinese Mandarin 四十
- 四十 (sìshí)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Czech čtyřicet
- čtyřicetthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Danish fyrre, fyrretyve
- fyrrethe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- fyrretyvethe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- firtithe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Dutch veertig
- veertigthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Esperanto kvardek
- kvardekthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Estonian nelikümmend
- nelikümmendthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Finnish neljäkymmentä
- neljäkymmentäthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
French quarante
- quarantethe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
German vierzig
- vierzigthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Greek σαράντα
- σαράντα (saránta)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Hawaiian kanahā
- kanahāthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Hebrew אַרְבָּעִים
- אַרְבָּעִים (arba'ím)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Hindi चालीस
- चालीस (cālīs)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Hungarian negyven
- negyventhe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Icelandic fjörutíu
- fjörutíuthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Indonesian empat puluh
- empat puluhthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Irish daichead
- daicheadthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Italian quaranta
- quarantathe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Japanese 四十, 四十
- 四十 (yonjū)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- 四十 (shijū)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Korean 마흔, 사십
- 마흔 (maheun)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- 사십 (sasip)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Latin quadraginta
- quadragintathe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Latvian četrdesmit
- četrdesmitthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Lithuanian keturiasdešimt
- keturiasdešimtthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Malay empat puluh
- empat puluhthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Māori whā tekau
- whā tekauthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Norwegian førti
- førtithe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Persian چهل
- چهل (čehel)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Polish czterdzieści
- czterdzieścithe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Portuguese quarenta
- quarentathe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Punjabi ਚਾਲ਼ੀ, ਚਾਲ੍ਹੀ
- ਚਾਲ਼ੀ (cāḷī)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- ਚਾਲ੍ਹੀ (cālhī)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Romanian patruzeci
- patruzecithe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Russian со́рок
- со́рок (sórok)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Scottish Gaelic dà fhichead, ceathrad
- dà fhicheadthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- ceathradthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Slovak štyridsať
- štyridsaťthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Spanish cuarenta
- cuarentathe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Swahili arobaini, arubaini
- arobainithe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- arubainithe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Swedish fyrti, fyrtio
- fyrtithe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- fyrtiothe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Tagalog apatnapu
- apatnaputhe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Tamil நாற்பது
- நாற்பது (nāṟpatu)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Thai สี่สิบ
- สี่สิบ (sìi-sìp)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Turkish kırk
- kırkthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Ukrainian со́рок
- со́рок (sórok)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Urdu چالیس
- چالیس (cālīs)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Vietnamese bốn mươi, bốn chục
- bốn mươithe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- bốn chụcthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Welsh deugain, pedwar deg
- deugainthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
- pedwar degthe cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Yiddish פֿערציק
- פֿערציק (fertsik)the cardinal number occurring after thirty-nine
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with forty
All rhymes →Cite this entry
APA
forty. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forty
MLA
“forty.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forty. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “forty,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/forty.
Source: forty on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.