quintet

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian quintetto, with the ending dropped;^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Klein and Dictionary.com derive it instead from French quintette,^[7][8] and Merriam-Webster and Barnhart derive the spelling with -ette from the French word.^[3][6] The Italian word is a diminutive from Italian quinto (“fifth”),^[4][6][3][2] from Latin quīntus (“fifth”),^[4][6][3][5] which is related to quīnque (“five”),^[4][6] from Proto-Indo-European *penkwe- (“five”), the source of five.^[4][5] The OED compares the earlier duet and the slightly later quartet;^[2] French had quintette by 1801, and German Quintett is recorded by 1805.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A piece of music for five voices or instruments: 1764, in a stage direction in T. A. Arne's Guardian Out-witted.^[2][3] Etymonline and Barnhart date quintet only to 1811, and the Italian form quintetto to 1792 in Etymonline.^[4][6] The OED records quintetto in English from 1764 as well.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the composition and then the performers: an ensemble of five singers or players is recorded from 1871 in the OED,^[2] and in Etymonline from 1882.^[4] From 1833 it was used for any group of five people or things, especially five people engaged in the same activity,^[2] and it can also mean a basketball team.^[9] At the end of the 19th century, from 1896 to 1898, a quintet was also a bicycle for five riders.^[2] The spelling quintette, taken from French, is recorded from 1864.^[6]

Timeline

• 1764 – a composition for five voices or instruments.^[2][3]
• 1833 – any set of five people or things.^[2]
• 1864 – the spelling quintette.^[6]
• 1871 – an ensemble of five singers or players.^[2] Etymonline dates this sense to 1882.^[4]
• 1896 – a bicycle for five riders (obsolete by 1898).^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A musical composition or movement for five instruments or voices: The concert ended with a quintet for piano and strings.^{[3][9][10][2]}
2. A group of five singers or players who perform together: She plays horn in a brass quintet.^[11][10][2]
3. Any group or set of five people or things.^{[3][11][10][2]}
4. A basketball team.^[9][3]

Related words

• duet
• quartet
• quintuple
• quintessence
• five

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 p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
7. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
8. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
9. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin