veertig

From Dutch veertig, from Middle Dutch viertich, vēertich, from Old Dutch *viertig, from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr tigiwiz.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɪə̯r.təχ/

• Audio:

  (file)

veertig

1. forty

From Middle Dutch viertich, vēertich, from Old Dutch *viertig, from Proto-Germanic *fedwōr tigiwiz.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfeːr.təx/, /ˈveːr.təx/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: veer‧tig

veertig

1. forty

Although spelt with v-, the word is traditionally pronounced with initial /f/ even in accents that generally do not devoice v-. (This is due to analogy with zeventig ["seventy"], which used to have a prefix t- and hence a devoiced z-.) However, there are also many speakers who pronounce /v/ in line with the spelling. The WNT (1954) notes that the voiced pronunciation isn't very common, while Auer and Hinskens state that this realisation is becoming increasingly common in Standard Dutch due to hypercorrection.^[1]

• Afrikaans: veertig
• Jersey Dutch: vêrtix
• Negerhollands: veertig

• Matthias de Vries, Lambert Allard te Winkel (1864) “veertig”, in Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, published 2001