Forty (40) is the number that follows 39 and precedes 41. Though it's related to the number “four” (4), the modern spelling of 40 is forty. The older form, fourty, is treated as a misspelling today. The modern spelling could reflect a historical pronunciation change.
40 (forty) is the natural number following 39 and preceding 41. Though the word is related to "four" (4), the spelling "forty" replaced "fourty" in the course of the 17th century and is now the standard form.
Is it forty or fourty dollars? Forty dollars is correct. Forty is the correct spelling of the cardinal number used to indicate a quantity of something. “Fourty” is sometimes used instead of forty, but this is incorrect.
Contrary to popular belief, there is only one correct spelling of the number 40. Forty is the proper way to spell the number, and fourty is always incorrect. It's easy to see why this would be confusing, since the base number is four, and the U isn't dropped from other numbers like fourteen or even forty-four.
The Origin of Forty
The word forty can be traced back to an Old English compound word feowertig that combines feower (four) and tig (group of ten). The spelling of forty without a “u” has been popular since at least the 16th century.
There is no good explanation for why forty lacks a u that its near-relation four has. Forty simply is, as American English Spelling author D.W. Cummings calls it, an "ill-formed but accepted spelling." It is, however, also a relatively new spelling.
The number 'Forty' has all letters in alphabetical order. 'Forty' is the only cardinal number, a number denoting quantity, in which the letters are placed in an alphabetical order.
Jail vs Gaol
They ultimately are the same word – Old Northern French used the form gayol and Parisian French the form jaile. Both forms existed in English but the form gaol was the one that had been taken on by British law. Of course the gaol spelling gives rise to the inevitable confusion between gaol and goal.
Z versus S
While American English uses 'ize', 'izi' and 'iza' in words like 'organize', 'organizing' and 'organization', Australian/British English uses 'ise', 'isi' and 'isa', as in 'organise', 'organising' and 'organisation'.
42 in words is written as “Forty-two”.
41 in words is written as Forty-one. In both the International System of Numerals and the Indian System of Numerals, 41 is written as Forty-one.
Thus, 43 in words is written as Forty-Three. Thus, the word form of the number 43 is Forty-Three.
44 in words is written as Forty Four.
At the beginning of the 15th century, numerous vowel shifts happened, which reflected dialects and admitted ways of speaking and writing. During this time, both spellings and pronunciation of countless English words changed, and fourty was one of them. Thus fourty became forty as we know today.
forty. noun. for·ty ˈfȯrt-ē plural forties. : a number equal to four times 10 see number.
14 in words is Fourteen.
Realize and realise are alternate spellings of the same word. In the US and Canada, realize is by far the more common spelling. In the UK, Australia, and New Zealand realise dominates, though realize is sometimes used too.
People from Australia call their homeland “Oz;” a phonetic abbreviation of the country's name, which also harkens to the magical land from L. Frank Baum's fantasy tale.
In most English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, the letter's name is zed /zɛd/, reflecting its derivation from the Greek zeta (this dates to Latin, which borrowed Y and Z from Greek), but in American English its name is zee /ziː/, analogous to the ...
A: Both are accepted – but “jail” is preferred. It admits that “in general, the spelling of this word has shifted in Australian English from gaol to jail”. However, it goes on to add that, “gaol remains fossilised in the names of jails, as Parramatta Gaol, and in some government usage”.
'Gaol' is a chiefly British spelling which was used very often during colonial Australia (which is why places like Dubbo Gaol had that spelling). It is thought that 'Jail' is a more American way of spelling the word, however both forms of the word have historical origins in Europe.
When spelling words borrowed from Māori, New Zealand English can either spell them with macrons or without (e.g. Maori and Māori are both accepted spellings). New Zealand always uses jail over British and Australian gaol.
As a result, many often spell it with an additional 'u' from the word 'four'. Next time you spell 'forty', remember that it doesn't come with a 'u'. See if you can spot the mistake below: Man: Your mother is fourty years old.
W, or w, is the twenty-third and fourth-to-last letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. It represents a consonant, but in some languages it represents a vowel. Its name in English is double-u, plural double-ues.