quartet

English

Alternative forms

• quartette

Etymology

From French quartette, from Italian quartetto. Doublet of cuarteto and quartetto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwɔː(ɹ)ˈtɛt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

English numbers ^(edit)

[a], [b] ←  3	4	5  →
Cardinal: four     Ordinal: fourth     Latinate ordinal: quartary, quaternary     Latinate reverse order ordinal: preantepenultimate     Adverbial: four times     Multiplier: fourfold     Latinate multiplier: quadruple     Distributive: quadruply     Germanic collective: foursome     Collective of n parts: quadruplet     Greek or Latinate collective: tetrad     Greek collective prefix: tetra-, tessera-     Latinate collective prefix: quadri-     Fractional: quarter, fourth     Elemental: quadruplet     Greek prefix: tetarto-     Number of musicians: quartet     Number of years: quadrennium, olympiad

Noun

quartet (plural quartets)

1. A group of four people or things, particularly
   • 2015, Tony Holmes, American Eagles: US Fighter Pilots in the RAF 1939-1945:

     The last of the quartet of American fighter pilots to join the RAF before the war was Cyril 'Pussy' Palmer, who was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in March 1918.

   1. (music) A group of four musicians who perform classical music together.

      The string quartet played some chamber music.

   3. (music) A musical composition in four parts, each performed by a single voice or instrument.

      He composed a string quartet.

   4. (music) A group of four singers, usually males, who sings together in four-part harmony.

      The barbershop quartet performed the composition a cappella.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:quartet

Derived terms

• barbershop quartet
• string quartet

Translations

group of four

• Bulgarian: четворка (bg) f (četvorka)
• Danish: kvartet (da)
• Dutch: viertal (nl) n, kwartet (nl) n
• Finnish: nelikko (fi), nelikkö (fi)
• French: quatuor (fr) m, quadrille (fr) m
• Georgian: კვარტეტი (ḳvarṭeṭi)
• German: Quartett (de) n
• Hungarian: négyes (hu)
• Italian: quartetto (it) m
• Japanese: 四人組 (yoningumi)
• Maori: tokowhā
• Portuguese: quarteto (pt) m
• Russian: кварте́т (ru) m (kvartét), четвёрка (ru) f (četvjórka), (collective) че́тверо (ru) pl (čétvero)
• Spanish: cuarteto (es) m
• Swedish: kvartett (sv) c

four musicians who perform a piece of music together

• Bulgarian: квартет m (kvartet)
• Catalan: quartet m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 四重奏 (zh) (sìchóngzòu)

• Czech: kvarteto (cs) n
• Danish: kvartet (da)
• Dutch: kwartet (nl) n
• Finnish: kvartetti (fi)
• French: quatuor (fr) m, quartette (fr) m
• Georgian: კვარტეტი (ḳvarṭeṭi)
• German: Quartett (de) n
• Hungarian: kvartett (hu), négyes (hu)
• Italian: quartetto (it) m
• Japanese: カルテット (karutetto), 四重唱 (shijūshō)
• Korean: 콰르텟 (kwareutet), 사중주 (ko) (sajungju)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kvartett m

  Nynorsk: kvartett m

• Polish: kwartet (pl) m
• Portuguese: quarteto (pt) m
• Russian: кварте́т (ru) m (kvartét)
• Slovene: kvartet m
• Spanish: cuarteto (es) m
• Swedish: kvartett (sv) c
• Tagalog: kuwarteto
• Welsh: pedwarawd (cy) m, pedrawd m

musical composition for four musicians

• Bulgarian: квартет m (kvartet)
• Catalan: quartet m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 四重奏 (zh) (sìchóngzòu)

• Czech: kvartet (cs) m
• Danish: kvartet (da)
• Dutch: kwartet (nl) n
• Finnish: kvartetti (fi)
• French: quatuor (fr) m, quartette (fr) m
• Georgian: კვარტეტი (ḳvarṭeṭi)
• German: Quartett (de) n
• Hungarian: kvartett (hu)
• Interlingua: quartetto
• Italian: quartetto (it) m
• Japanese: カルテット (karutetto), 四重奏 (shijūsō)
• Korean: 콰르텟 (kwareutet), 사중주 (ko) (sajungju)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kvartett m

  Nynorsk: kvartett m

• Portuguese: quarteto (pt) m
• Romanian: cvartet (ro)
• Russian: кварте́т (ru) m (kvartét)
• Slovene: kvartet m
• Spanish: cuarteto (es) m
• Swedish: kvartett (sv) c
• Tagalog: kuwarteto

See also

• Thesaurus:number

Catalan

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [kwərˈtɛt]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [kwərˈtət]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [kwaɾˈtet]

Noun

quartet m (plural quartets)

1. A quartet, a group of four people or things, particularly
   1. A group of four musicians who perform music together.
   2. A group of four singers who sing together in four-part harmony.
   3. A poem in four verses, especially decasyllable ones, that usually rhyme first and fourth, and the other two.

Further reading

• “quartet” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “quartet”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “quartet” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “quartet” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kwaʁ.tɛ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

quartet m (plural quartets)

1. quartet

Further reading

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

Romanian

Noun

quartet n (plural quartete)

1. Alternative form of cvartet

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	quartet	quartetul		quartete	quartetele
genitive-dative	quartet	quartetului		quartete	quartetelor
vocative	quartetule			quartetelor