couplet

English

Etymology

From French couplet, from couple + -et. Doublet of cabaletta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌp.lət/, /ˈkʌplɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌplət

Noun

couplet (plural couplets)

1. A set of two things, particularly

   Coordinate terms: singlet, triplet, quadruplet, tetraplet, quintuplet, pentuplet, sextuplet, septuplet, octuplet, nonuplet, decuplet, centuplet, multiplet

   1. (literature) A pair of lines, typically with rhyming end words.

      Coordinate terms: tercet, quatrain, cinquain, sestet, septet, octave

   2. A pair of one-way streets which carry opposing directions of traffic through gridded urban areas.

      5th Street is one-way west only and 6th Street is one-way east only. Together, they form a couplet in Downtown Los Angeles.

      Synonym: one-way pair

   3. (taxonomy) A pair of two mutually exclusive choices in a dichotomous key.
      • 2001, Stephen T. Ross, The Inland Fishes of Mississippi, page 33:

        The dichotomous keys are constructed so that each couplet presents a set of alternative choices.

      • 2004, Shin'ichiro Ishikawa, An Exploration of a New Poetic Expression Beyond Dichotomy:

        As long as the correct statement of each couplet is chosen, and the unknown organism is included in the key, a confident identification is usually achieved.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:duo

Derived terms

• heroic couplet
• rhyming couplet

Translations

in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words

• Armenian: բեյթ (hy) (beytʻ), երկյակ (hy) (erkyak)
• Azerbaijani: beyt (az)
• Belarusian: купле́т m (kupljét), двуве́рш m (dvuvjérš)
• Bulgarian: купле́т m (kuplét), двусти́шие n (dvustíšie)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 對句／对句 (zh) (duìjù)

• Czech: kuplet m
• Esperanto: strofo
• Finnish: kupletti (fi), säepari
• French: couplet (fr) m
• Georgian: ბაითი (ka) (baiti)
• German: Couplet (de) n
• Greek: κουπλέ (el) n (kouplé)
• Hausa: ƙwàr̃ f
• Indonesian: bait (id), kuplet (id), untai (id)
• Japanese: 対句 (ja) (ついく, tsuiku)
• Korean: 대구(對句) (ko) (daegu)
• Macedonian: двостих m (dvostih), купле́т m (kuplét)
• Persian: بِیْت (fa) (beyt)
• Polish: dwuwiersz m, dystych m
• Portuguese: parelha (pt) f
• Romanian: distih (ro) n
• Russian: купле́т (ru) m (kuplét), двусти́шие (ru) n (dvustíšije)
• Slovak: kuplet m
• Slovene: distih m
• Tagalog: dulay, dalawahan, kopla
• Telugu: ద్విపద (te) (dvipada)
• Turkish: beyit (tr)
• Ukrainian: купле́т m (kuplét), двові́рш m (dvovírš)
• Vietnamese: đối (vi), câu đối (vi)

Anagrams

• octuple

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from French couplet, from Middle French couplet, from Old French couplet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuˈplɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cou‧plet
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

couplet n (plural coupletten, diminutive coupletje n)

1. verse of a song

Antonyms

• refrein

Descendants

• → Papiamentu: kuplèt, couplet

French

Etymology

From couple +‎ -et.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ku.plɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

couplet m (plural couplets)

1. (music) verse
2. (literature) couplet

Descendants

• → Dutch: couplet
• → English: couplet
• → German: Couplet
• → Spanish: cuplé
• → Russian: купле́т (kuplét)

See also

• refrain

Further reading

• “couplet”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.