Meanings
Numeric
1. four
肆 is used in legal documents
Kanji used
four
Pitch accent
Used in vocabulary (121 in total)
the four cardinal directions; north, east, south and west; surroundings; many countries; the whole world; all around; here and there
14; fourteen
the Four Heavenly Kings (Dhrtarastra, Virudhaka, Virupaksa, and Vaisravana); the big four (i.e. four leaders in a given field)
square; rectangular
four Taoist gods said to reign over the four directions; four gods said to reign over the four seasons
four (long cylindrical things)
the four seasons
divide into four pieces; one fourth
around the clock; day and night
four thousand; 4,000
quadrilateral; square
four times; four colour process printing (color); CMYK printing
the four great sages (Buddha, Christ, Confucius, Socrates)
one four-of-a-kind and one three-of-a-kind in a dealt hand; three and a four (in dice games)
fourth court rank
neighbourhood; neighborhood; all sides; frontiers (of a country); four sides (of a shape)
quarter; a fourth; square (piece of) cloth
to grumble about something (trivial)
four legs; four-legged; quadruped
the four gentlemen (plum, chrysanthemum, orchid, and bamboo)
quadrilateral; quadrangle; tetragon
quadrilateral; quadrangle; tetragon
the four elements (earth, water, fire, wind); the human body; Tao, heaven, earth and king
four sides; all sides
instrumental quartet
fourth dimension; four dimensions
forty-ninth day after a person's death
quadrangular pyramid
quarter of a century
the four signs of orthodox Buddhism
the four auspicious beasts from Chinese mythology
the four kinds of demons that make trouble for sentient beings
periphery; circumference
quarter (of a year)
four balls; base on balls; a walk
the four social classes (samurai, farmers, artisans, merchants); the masses
the four inauspicious beasts from Chinese mythology
to be square; to be angular; to be formal; to be stiff; to be strict
the four kinds of suffering (birth, old age, disease, death)
quadrangular prism
ladder (in go)
four-of-a-kind and a pair in a dealt hand
24 divisions of the solar year; 24 terms used to denote the changing of the seasons
shirokuban (paper size of 127x188mm); duodecimo
four (fundamental) rules of arithmetic
to be square; to be angular; to be formal; to be stiff; to be strict
the four seasons
a fourth; quarter
four images; four symbols; four emblems; four phenomena; four phases
six to four ratio; sixty-forty
the Four Books (Confucian texts)
rolling a two and four (with two dice); six
the four auspicious beasts from Chinese mythology
quarter note; crotchet
the four kalpa (formation, existence, destruction, nothingness)
traffic network extending in all directions
style of temple gate featuring four supporting pillars and a gabled roof
the four great families of the age (esp. the Minamoto clan, the Taira clan, the Fujiwara clan and the Tachibana clan); varna (each of the four Hindu castes)
the four ways of birth (from a womb, an egg, moisture or spontaneously); catur-yoni
Quaternary period
the four beginnings (in Mencius's belief in humanity's innate goodness); the four sprouts
720ml bottle (of alcohol)
four beasts (tiger, leopard, black bear, and brown bear); four gods said to rule over the four directions
heaven of the Four Great Kings; one of the six heavens of the desire realm
shirokuban (paper size of 127x188mm); duodecimo
the 64 hexagrams (of the Book of Changes)
four administrative positions (of the ritsuryo system: kami, suke, jou, sakan)
Four Barbarians; derogative name for various ancient non-Chinese peoples bordering ancient China
bases on balls and pitches striking the batsmen
vocal quartet; four-part chorus
four orders of Buddhist followers (monks, nuns, male lay devotees and female lay devotees); four monastic communities (ordained monks, ordained nuns, male novices and female novices); the four assemblies
four orders of Buddhist followers (monks, nuns, male lay devotees and female lay devotees); four monastic communities (ordained monks, ordained nuns, male novices and female novices); the four assemblies
four-color theorem (colour) (theorem stating that any map can be colored such that no two adjacent segments have the same color, if only four colors are used)
amateur; novice; layman
schools of the upper quartile; highly ranked schools
Tetragonocalamus quadrangularis (type of bamboo); Chimonobambusa quadrangularis
Twenty-Four Histories; authoritative collection of twenty-four Chinese historical books
four gratitudes (to one's parents, all living beings, one's sovereign and the Three Jewels); four obligations
fourth tray (of food)
four-of-a-kind (in a dealt hand)
May Fourth Movement (anti-imperialist student demonstration in Beijing on May 4, 1919)
mnemonic for remembering the months with fewer than 31 days (ni, shi, mu, ku, etc.)
four sides (boundaries) of a property
weather of the four seasons (warmth of spring, heat of summer, cool of autumn, and cold of winter)
firstly vision, secondly footwork, thirdly courage, fourthly technique (the most important aspects of kendo)
four orders of Buddhist followers (monks, nuns, male lay devotees and female lay devotees)
the four loves (chrysanthemum, lotus, plum, and orchid; as painting subjects)
silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4)
the four stages of existence: birth, life, death, and limbo
plans for one's day, plans for one's year, plans for one's life, and plans for one's family
titanium tetrachloride
fourth wall (in fiction)
four realms (in Tendai Buddhism or Yogacara)
carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)
silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4)
varna (each of India's four castes)
sihu (4-stringed Chinese musical instrument played with a bow)
ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid; EDTA
four types of mandala (in Shingon)
Père David's deer (Elaphurus davidianus); milu; elpahure
head, trunk, arms, and legs; the whole body
the Four Home Provinces (Yamato, Yamashiro, Settsu, and Kawachi); obsolete in 757 when Izumi was established as a separate province from Kawachi
land-tax system during the Edo period under which the government took 40% of the year's crop and the farmers kept 60%
fourth watch of the night (approx. 1am to 3am)
Examples (14 in total)
I've climbed Mt. Fuji four times.
This book is divided into four parts.
I paid him four dollars.