forty

for,同four. -ty,同 ten.

forty (n.)

early 12c., feowerti, from Old English feowertig, Northumbrian feuortig "forty," from feower "four" (see four) + tig "group of ten" (see -ty (1)). Compare Old Saxon fiwartig, Old Frisian fiuwertich, Dutch veertig, Old High German fiorzug, German vierzig, Old Norse fjorir tigir, Gothic fidwor tigjus.

[T]he number 40 must have been used very frequently by Mesha's scribe as a round number. It is probably often used in that way in the Bible where it is remarkably frequent, esp. in reference to periods of days or years. ... How it came to be so used is not quite certain, but it may have originated, partly at any rate, in the idea that 40 years constituted a generation or the period at the end of which a man attains maturity, an idea common, it would seem, to the Greeks, the Israelites, and the Arabs. ["The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia," James Orr, ed., Chicago, 1915]

Forty winks "short sleep" is attested from 1821; in early use associated with, and perhaps coined by, English eccentric and lifestyle reformer William Kitchiner M.D. (1775-1827). Forty-niner in U.S. history was an adventurer to California (usually from one of the eastern states) in search of fortune during the gold rush of 1849.

1. Forty or fifty women were sitting cross-legged on the ground.

四五十个女人盘腿坐在地上。

2. Defence soaks up forty per cent of the budget.

国防耗去40%的预算。

3. Labour was top of the poll with forty-six percent.

工党以46%的得票数高居首位。

4. About forty prisoners are still barricaded inside the wrecked buildings.

仍有大约40名囚犯被困在严重损毁的建筑物中。

5. I dare you to sit through forty-five minutes with someone like Vincent!

我想你绝不敢和文森特这样的人一起坐上45分钟！