quatrain

[ kwo-treyn ]

noun

1. a stanza or poem of four lines, usually with alternate rhymes.

quatrain

/ ˈkwɒtreɪn /

noun

1. a stanza or poem of four lines, esp one having alternate rhymes

Word History and Origins

Origin of quatrain¹

1575–85; < French, equivalent to quatre four (< Latin quattuor ) + -ain < Latin -ānus -an

Word History and Origins

Origin of quatrain¹

C16: from French, from quatre four, from Latin quattuor

Example Sentences

That, more than the quatrains of Omar Khayyam or the gorgeous rugs of Kerman, is the soft power that matters to Tehran.

From Seattle Times

Carla, it turns out, is more interested in “a muscular Argentine” than quatrains.

From New York Times

On “Throw It Away,” she distills the relationship’s collapse into an incredible little quatrain: “We reached a ceiling/I had a feeling/From the beginning/Must be the ending.”

From New York Times

In “America,” he added, “I had this wonderful quatrain that went: ‘I like to be in America/OK by me in America/Everything free in America/For a small fee in America.’

From New York Times

A sassy flute tauntingly hovers over things, and Musgraves’s first verse begins with a vicious quatrain that captures the fracture in a nutshell:

From New York Times

Related Words

• ballad
• composition
• epic
• lyric
• poetry
• rhyme
• sonnet
• verse
• writing