Discussion » Questions » Language » 4 is spelled four, 4th is spelled fourth. Why isn't 40 spelt fourty instead of forty.
Element 99

4 is spelled four, 4th is spelled fourth. Why isn't 40 spelt fourty instead of forty.

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Posted - December 23, 2017
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Responses


  • 53504




      Wait . . . why the heck is everyone looking at me?  I certainly didn't invent the English language!





    ~
      December 23, 2017 10:35 AM MST
    3

  • "Because this is America!"

      December 23, 2017 10:39 AM MST
    3

  • 1812
    Spell 40 any wey you like it. I spell it 4T. 
      December 23, 2017 10:55 AM MST
    3

  • 53504


    Whatever happened to 4d?
    ~
      December 23, 2017 11:19 AM MST
    1

  • 1812
    It is still in front of 4d-wun.
      December 23, 2017 6:31 PM MST
    1

  • 7280
    Interesting and insignificant at the same time---the daily double  (lol)

    Although fourty is universally rejected, it still finds its way into the writing of those who should know better.

    https://writingexplained.org/forty-or-fourty-difference


    And a separate comment from Quora:  

    The fourty spelling dies out quickly in the 1600s, and I am convinced by the guess in Why is 'forty' spelled without a 'u' in Canadian/British English? : the King James Bible happened to choose forty instead of fourty, at a time of orthographic whimsy and/or phonetic instability. And that was that.

    https://www.quora.com/Why-is-40-spelled-forty-and-not-fourty
      December 23, 2017 11:31 AM MST
    2

  • 44603
    I'm going back to spelling it fourty. I did it for years. To Hell with everyone else. THEY are spelling it wrong.
      December 23, 2017 11:37 AM MST
    1

  • 7280
    One of the perks of retirement....
      December 23, 2017 11:41 AM MST
    1

  • 44603
    Absotively.
      December 23, 2017 11:46 AM MST
    0

  • 5354
    Are you sure it is not fourth that are spelled wrong? Surely it should be spelled 'forth'
      December 24, 2017 1:26 AM MST
    1

  • 5354
    Because that is how it is pronounced. Blame grammar nitvits for breaking their own rules. This post was edited by JakobA the unAmerican. at December 24, 2017 6:55 AM MST
      December 23, 2017 11:38 AM MST
    1

  • Why don't we just go back to Proto-Germanic and say "fedwōr-tigiwiz"? 
      December 23, 2017 12:23 PM MST
    2

  • 44603
    Because you are the only one here who can pronounce it. Show off. LOL I suppose we could go WAY back to the past and just say "ug". This post was edited by Element 99 at December 24, 2017 6:57 AM MST
      December 24, 2017 6:56 AM MST
    0

  • 22891
    cause people decided to spell it different
      December 23, 2017 2:39 PM MST
    1