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cattāri

catu

nt nom pl of catu (card); nt acc pl of catu (card)

1. catu (card): four (4)
2. cattāri (card): four (4)
3. cattāri (card): four (4)

Built from

• catt- — root · four
  The base stem derived from *kwetwor-. The dental geminate (tt) reflects Proto-Indo-European morphology in the oblique cases.
• -āri — ending · nominative/accusative plural
  Neuter plural inflection (-āni → -āri by contraction), marking the nominative and accusative cases of plural neuter nouns in this declension class.

Etymology. From Indo-European *kwetwor- (four). Cognates: Sanskrit catváras, Greek téssares, Latin quattuor, English four, German vier. The Pali form shows the regular sound changes from the proto-language: *kw > c, and loss of the labial element in the plural ending.

Meanings from the Digital Pāḷi Dictionary; morphology and etymology by Claude.

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