forty

[ fawr-tee ]

noun

, plural for·ties.

1. a cardinal number, ten times four.
2. a symbol for this number, as 40 or XL or XXXX.
3. a set of this many persons or things.
4. forties, the numbers, years, degrees, or the like, from 40 through 49, as in referring to numbered streets, indicating the years of a lifetime or of a century, or degrees of temperature:

   His office is in the West Forties. Her parents are in their forties. The temperature will be in the forties.

adjective

1. amounting to 40 in number.

forty

/ ˈfɔːtɪ /

noun

1. the cardinal number that is the product of ten and four See also number
2. a numeral, 40, XL, etc, representing this number
3. something representing, represented by, or consisting of 40 units

determiner

1. 1. amounting to forty

      forty thieves

   2. ( as pronoun )

      there were forty in the herd

Word History and Origins

Origin of forty¹

before 950; Middle English fourti, Old English fēowertig (cognate with Old Frisian fiuwertich, Old High German fiorzug, German vierzig ). See four, -ty ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of forty¹

Old English fēowertig

Example Sentences

He is the author of over forty books and his writings have been translated into twenty-five languages.

From Salon

It was successfully landed in the Indian Ocean around forty minutes later.

From BBC

Federal prosecutors say they are still “copying over forty devices and the other five iCloud reports belonging to the defendant, which is expected to take several days due to the volume of the materials.”

From Los Angeles Times

It isn’t right to attribute Trump’s rise solely to these motivations; it’s been going on for forty years.

From Salon

Christina Broom only began to experiment with photography in her forties, using a box camera.

From BBC