quartet

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian quartetto with the ending dropped, according to the OED, which takes the musical sense perhaps via German Quartett, recorded from the late 18th century.^[2] Barnhart, Etymonline, the American Heritage Dictionary and Klein give the route through French quartette,^[3][4][5][6] but the OED notes that the French word is recorded only from 1869, and rarely.^[2] The Italian word is a diminutive of quarto (“fourth”),^[5][3][7] from Latin quārtus (“fourth”),^[5][4] which is related to quattuor (“four”).^[4] Merriam-Webster sees the English spelling as influenced by -et or -ette.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A set of four lines in a sonnet: 1605, in Camden's Remaines.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The musical sense, a composition for four voices or instruments, appears in 1773 in Burney's account of music in Germany,^[2][4][8] and Barnhart cites Coleridge in 1790.^[3] The players who perform such a piece were called a quartet from 1814 in Etymonline's dating, or 1840 in the OED's,^[4][2] and the word then spread to any set of four people (1814) or things, especially a series of four novels (1882).^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1605 – a set of four lines in a sonnet.^[2]
• 1773 – a composition for four voices or instruments.^[2][4]
• 1814 – a set of four people.^[2]
• 1840 – four singers or players performing together.^[2]
• 1882 – a set of four things, especially four novels.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A group of four singers or instrumentalists who perform together.^[7][8][2]
2. A musical composition for four voices or instruments, especially a string quartet.^[7][8][2]
3. Any set of four people or things: A quartet of new cafés opened on the square.^[7][8][2]
4. A set of four lines in a sonnet.^[2][10]

Word family

• string quartet

Related words

• quart
• quarter
• quartetto
• quatrain

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
6. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press