Definition

1. Number:
   • Four, fourth: The cardinal number equivalent to the sum of three and one. It follows the number three and precedes the number five in the natural number sequence. It can also denote the ordinal position of "fourth."

Usage Examples

• Number:
  • Một năm có bốn mùa. (A year has four seasons.)
  • Đây là lần thứ bốn tôi đến thăm thành phố này. (This is the fourth time I have visited this city.)
  • Số nhà của tôi là bốn. (My house number is four.)

Advanced Usage

• "bốn bề" / "bốn phía": On all sides, from every direction.
  • Âm thanh vang lên từ bốn phía. (The sound echoed from all sides.)
• "bốn phương": The four directions (North, South, East, West); often used to mean "everywhere" or "all lands."
  • Anh ấy đã đi khắp bốn phương trời. (He has traveled to all corners of the earth.)
• "bốn mắt": Literally "four eyes"; a colloquial term for someone who wears glasses.
  • Cậu bốn mắt kia, lại đây một chút! (Hey four-eyes, come here for a second!)

Variants and Related Words

• Tư: A Sino-Vietnamese variant meaning "four" or "fourth," often used in formal, historical, or compound contexts (e.g., - the fourth century; tư thế - posture).
• Bốn mươi: Forty (4 x 10).
• Bốn trăm: Four hundred.
• Thứ tư: Wednesday (the fourth day of the week).
• Hạng tư / thứ tư: Fourth place, fourth rank.

Synonyms

• Tư (as explained above, used in specific contexts).

Related Phrases / Idioms

• Ba chìm *bốn nổi*: To lead a life of constant ups and downs, instability, and hardship.
  • Cuộc đời bà ấy ba chìm bốn nổi. (Her life has been full of turbulence and hardship.)
• Ba bề *bốn bên*: From all sides, surrounded.
  • Chúng tôi bị vây ba bề bốn bên. (We were surrounded on all sides.)
• Bốn *cẳng một duyên*: Literally "four legs and one destiny"; a humorous or rustic way to refer to a dog.
• Đầu voi đuôi chuột: Literally "elephant's head, mouse's tail"; similar to the English idiom "much cry and little wool," describing something that starts grandly but ends insignificantly. While not containing "bốn," it is conceptually related to the idea of disproportionate parts.

number

1. Four, fourth
   • một năm có bốn mùa
     there are four seasons in a year
   • một trăm lẻ bốn
     a hundred and four
   • châu á gấp bốn lần châu âu
     Asia is four times larger than Europe
   • đợt bốn
     round four, the fourth round
   • bốn tám
     forty-eight
   • xe bốn bánh
     a four-wheeler
   • thú bốn chân
     a quadruped
   • bốn dài hai ngắn