[tʃɛtri]
CilmeFrom Proto-Baltic *ketur-, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwóres (“four”) (stem *kʷetwer-, *kʷetur-), apparently an old compound, from *kʷa-, *kʷe- (“and”), and *tʷer-, *tur-, the same stem found in turēt (“to hold, to keep”), tvert (“to grasp”) (q.v.). In Latvian, Proto-Baltic *ketur- yielded at first cetri (IPA⁽ᵏᵉʸ⁾: [tsætri]), conserved in 16-18th century texts (as caetr, czaettri, czettri). The c was conserved in ceturtais, certurkārt, ceturksnis, but changed to č in četri perhaps under Slavic influence, helped by the final i (which also caused [æ] → [ɛ]). Cognates include Lithuanian keturi̇̀, Sudovian teter (from *kʲeter, from *ketur-), Old Prussian kettwirts (“fourth”), Old Church Slavonic четꙑре (četyre), Russian четы́ре (četýre), Belarusian чаты́ры (čatýry), Ukrainian чоти́ри (čotýry), Bulgarian че́тири (čétiri), Czech čtyři, Polish cztery, Sanskrit चतुर् (catur), Ancient Greek τέτταρες (téttares) (Homeric τέσσαρες (téssares), Doric τέτορες (tétores)), Latin quattuor.
- four (the cipher, the cardinal number four; sometimes undeclined)
“divi un divi ir četri” — two plus two is four
“skaitīt līdz četri” — to count to four
“uzrakstīt uz tāfeles četri” — to write a four on the blackboard
- four (B, good, a school grade; syn. četrinieks)
“saņemt četri” — to get a B (lit. four)
- four (an amount equal to four)
“četri kilometri, kilogrami” — four kilometers, kilograms (= kilos)
“ierasties pēc četrām stundām” — to come in, after four hours
“aizbraukt uz četriem gadiem” — to leave for four years
- four o'clock (a moment in time; four hours after midnight, or after noon)
“pulkstenis ir četri” — it is four o'clock
“beigt darbu četros pēc pusdienas” — to finish work at four o'clock after lunch (= in the afternoon)
“gaidīt no četriem līdz pieciem” — to wait from four to five o'clock
Formasčetri(masculine, nominative) · četras(feminine, nominative) · četru(genitive, masculine) · četru(feminine, genitive) · četriem(dative, masculine) · četrām(dative, feminine) · četrus(accusative, masculine) · četras(accusative, feminine) · četriem(instrumental, masculine) · četrām(feminine, instrumental) · četros(locative, masculine) · četrās(feminine, locative) · -(masculine, vocative) · -(feminine, vocative)