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cattāro

catu

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

1. catu (card): four (4)
2. cattāro (card): four (4)

Built from

• catt- — root · four
  The root for the cardinal number, with the doubled -tt- from Pali phonological development. Reflects PIE *kʷet- with the vowel shift to -a-. Found in Sanskrit catvāra- and all European cognate forms descended from the same ancestral numeral.
• -āro — ending · nominative plural
  The masculine nominative plural ending -āro (or -ā with -ro as an enclitic marker). This ending marks the word as nominative plural in Pali, identifying multiple items of the masculine gender.

Etymology. From Proto-Indo-European *kʷet(u)ór, the number four. Cognates: Sanskrit catvāraḥ, Latin quattuor, Greek téssares (τέσσαρες), English four, German vier. The final -ó in the Pali nominative plural reflects the Indo-European masculine nominative plural ending.

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

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