quaranta

Quaranta is the Italian word for the cardinal number forty. It is used in ordinary counting, dates, quantities, and ages, for example quaranta persone (forty people) or ha quaranta anni (she is forty years old). As an adjective, it usually appears before a noun and also occurs in fixed phrases such as quaranta giorni (forty days).

Quaranta derives from Latin quadraginta, the source of many Romance-language cognates for forty. The form is related to other languages’ words for forty, and has historically produced terms tied to periods expressed in days or months.

Quaranta is also an Italian surname. It is found among Italian-speaking communities and may reflect historical or toponymic origins, as is common with numerically derived surnames in Italy.

A notable historical connection exists with the concept of quarantine: the Italian word quarantena, meaning a period of isolation, derives from quaranta—the forty-day measure historically used to prevent the spread of disease. The English term quarantine comes from this Italian origin, illustrating how the number forty shaped linguistic terms beyond Italian.