quadruple

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English quadruple, also quadriple,^[2][3] borrowed from Anglo-Norman quadruple (“fourfold; a fourfold amount”),^[4][5] and directly borrowed from Latin quadruplus (“four times as great”), with the noun from its neuter quadruplum (“a quantity four times as great; a fourfold penalty”).^[4][6][3][2] The Anglo-Norman word is recorded from the early 13th century.^[5] The Middle English form quadriple shows the influence of triple,^[2][3] and an earlier variant quatreble, influenced by treble, was used as noun and adjective from before 1398.^[3][2] The verb is borrowed from Middle French quadrupler (“to make four times as great”) and its source borrowed from Latin quadruplō (“to make fourfold, multiply by four”),^[4][7][8] which Etymonline and Klein call Late Latin;^[9][7] Barnhart and Merriam-Webster take it directly from the Latin verb, and Merriam-Webster gives its first form as Scots quadruplen.^[3][10] The Latin adjective is formed from quadru- (“four”) and -plus (“-fold”), on the model of duplus (“double”);^{[7][8][11][4]} quadru- is a variant of quadri-,^[3][6] from Proto-Indo-European *kʷetwer- (“four”),^[9] and the American Heritage Dictionary connects -plus with the root Proto-Indo-European *pel-.^[6] The word is related to double.^[12][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

To multiply by four: John Barbour's Bruce, which Barnhart dates 1375 as quadruplen;^[3] the OED dates this record by its manuscript, 1487, and notes that the poem was written before 1380.^[4] The noun, a fourfold amount, is recorded about 1425 in a translation of John Arderne's treatise on fistula,^[4][2] and the adjective "fourfold" not until 1557, in Robert Recorde's Whetstone of Witte.^[4][3][10]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English the noun had a second, medical sense: a quadruple was an incisor tooth, especially a lateral incisor, a use taken from medieval Latin and French and recorded from before 1398 to 1577;^[2][4] the OED notes that the reason for the name is unclear.^[4] The adjective, which Barnhart sees as formed from the noun under the influence of French and Latin, replaced the older quatreble in the 16th century.^[3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "fourfold; four times told", quoting Hooker on a quadruple restitution for theft.^[13] The verb became intransitive, "to increase fourfold", in 1776, in Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations.^[4][9] Later uses were technical: the name of a coin worth four pistoles (1655), printing paper four times the usual size (1866) and a press printing four copies at once (1890);^[4] in music, quadruple time has four beats to the bar.^[10][8]

Timeline

• c. 1375 – verb, to multiply by four (quadruplen, in Barbour's Bruce).^[3] The OED dates the manuscript 1487.^[4]
• before 1398 – quadruply, incisor teeth.^[2][3]
• c. 1425 – noun, a fourfold amount.^[4][2]
• 1557 – adjective, fourfold, consisting of four parts.^[4][10][3]
• 1655 – a coin worth four pistoles (now historical).^[4]
• 1776 – verb, intransitive, to become four times as great.^[4]
• 1866 – of printing paper, four times the usual size.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Consisting of four parts or members: a quadruple alliance.^[10][14][4]
2. Four times as great or as many; fourfold.^[10][14][4]
3. Taken in fours; in music, having four beats to the measure: quadruple time.^[10][8]

Noun

1. A number or amount four times as great as another.^[10][14][4]
2. (obsolete) A coin worth four pistoles.^[10][4]

Verb

1. To make four times as great or as many; to multiply by four: The firm quadrupled its staff in two years.^[10][14][4]
2. To become four times as great or as many: Rents have quadrupled since the war.^[10][14][4]

Word family

• quadruply
• quadruplicity
• quadrupleness
• quadruplet
• quadruple time

Related words

• quadruplicate
• double
• triple
• treble
• quadri-

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
14. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins