quatrain

Borrowed from French quatrain.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkwɒt.ɹeɪn/

quatrain (plural quatrains)

1. A poem in four lines.
2. A stanza of four lines.

   Example:

   Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night,

   Has flung the Stone that puts the stars to flight:

   And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught

   The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of light.

   • 1894 December 26, The Sketch, London, page 396, column 1:

     The menu card was designed by Mr. Arthur Hacker, and further enriched by some charming verses in Omarian quatrains from Mr. Le Gallienne, who read them to a sympathetic audience.

• (four-line stanza): tetrastich

• couplet
• tercet
• terzain
• cinquain
• sestet
• septet
• octave

From quatre (“four”) +‎ -ain.

• IPA^(key): /ka.tʁɛ̃/

• Audio

  (file)

quatrain m (plural quatrains)

1. quatrain (stanza of four lines)

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