quadrivium

American  

[kwo-driv-ee-uhm] / kwɒˈdrɪv i əm /

noun

plural

quadrivia

1. (during the Middle Ages) the more advanced division of the seven liberal arts, comprising arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.

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quadrivium British  

/ kwɒˈdrɪvɪəm /

noun

1. (in medieval learning) the higher division of the seven liberal arts, consisting of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music Compare trivium

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Etymology

Origin of quadrivium

1795–1805; < Late Latin, special use of Latin quadrivium place where four ways meet; quadri-, via, -ium

Example Sentences

Herschel believed that music belonged as one of the four liberal arts of the quadrivium, alongside arithmetic, geometry and astronomy.

From New York Times • Jun. 27, 2022

This Pythagorean view re-emerged in medieval universities, where scholars studied the quadrivium, which divided the science of mathematics into four parts: geometry and arithmetic, astronomy and music.

From The Guardian • Jul. 2, 2010

The three arts of the trivium relate to the mind, and the four of the quadrivium to matter.

From "Words Like Loaded Pistols" by Sam Leith

Honest folk are jeeringly forbidden to beware of the quadrivium, which is apt to form a fourfold rogue instead of a scholar in four branches of knowledge.

From Wine, Women, and Song Mediaeval Latin Students' songs; Now first translated into English verse by Symonds, John Addington

The usual course of study in the universities was divided into what was known as the trivium and the quadrivium.

From General History for Colleges and High Schools by Myers, Philip Van Ness