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PlainSpell

fourth

/fɔɹθ/adjective, noun, verb

fourth is spelled F-O-U-R-T-H: 6 letters and one syllable. It appears 68 times per million words in written English, the 1,562nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “forth vs fourth” about 590 times a month (Google, United States). As an adjective, fourth means “The ordinal form of the number four” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in fourth?

Letters6: F-O-U-R-T-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing68 times per million words; the 1,562nd most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Sounds like
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is fourth?

Fourth appears 68 times per million words in written English, the 1,562nd most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce fourth?

  • UK /fɔːθ/
  • US /fɔɹθ/
  • /fo(ː)ɹθ/

Fourth has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-fourth.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with fourth

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

forth vs fourth590 G

Sounds like: forth (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with fourth?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as fourth from its last stressed vowel (/ɔɹθ/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of fourth

  • fourths plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • fourthing participle, present
  • fourthed participle, past

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does fourth mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

adjective

  1. 1

    The ordinal form of the number four.

noun

  1. 1

    The person or thing in the fourth position.

  2. 2

    USA quarter, one of four equal parts of a whole.

  3. 3

    The fourth gear of an engine.

  4. 4

    A musical interval which spans four degrees of the diatonic scale, for example C to F (C D E F).

  5. 5

    rareOne sixtieth of a third or tierce.

verb

  1. 1

    informalTo agree with a proposition or statement after it has already been thirded.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Fourth in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchquatrième, quatre (ordinal form of the number four – see also 4th), quarte (musical interval spanning four degrees of the…)
Germanvierte (ordinal form of the number four – see also 4th), Vierter (person or thing in the fourth position)
Portuguesequarto (ordinal form of the number four – see also 4th), quarta (person or thing in the fourth position), quarta (marcha) (fourth-highest gear of an engine)
Spanishcuarto (ordinal form of the number four – see also 4th)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does fourth come from?

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).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after fourth