Arabic-Indic Digit Four

It marks four of whatever the surrounding number describes. If someone sent you ٤, read it as four; nearby words tell what it counts.

The decimal place-value method (a digit’s position sets its value) developed in India. Indian numeral forms grew from Brahmi through Gupta to Nagari. In 662, Christian bishop Severus Sebokht noted India’s nine signs in Syria. In the ninth century, Baghdad mathematician al-Khwārazmī described calculations on a wipe-clean sand board. A Shiraz manuscript dated 969–972 shows forms later divided between eastern and western traditions.

Arabic-Indic ٤ and Eastern Arabic-Indic ۴ are separate characters. In mixed right-to-left text, enter digits in logical order; bidirectional rules decide where the number appears.