Standard Lemma guide

quatrain

noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈkwɒt.ɹeɪn/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A poem in four lines.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A stanza of four lines.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Examples

  • 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.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a stanza of four lines

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: stanza

Narrower terms: elegiac stanza, heroic stanza

History

Etymology

Etymology tree French quatre French -ain French quatrainbor. English quatrain Borrowed from French quatrain.

Across languages

Translations

44 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: رُبَاعِيّ (rubāʕiyy) — a stanza of four lines
  • Armenian: ռուբայի (ṙubayi) — a stanza of four lines
  • Bulgarian: четиристишие (četiristišie) — a stanza of four lines
  • Catalan: quartet — a stanza of four lines
  • Catalan: quarteta — a stanza of four lines
  • Chinese Mandarin: 四行詩 /四行诗 (sìhángshī) — a stanza of four lines
  • Chinese Mandarin: 四行連 /四行连 (sìhánglián) — a stanza of four lines
  • Czech: čtyřverší — a stanza of four lines
  • Dutch: kwatrijn — a stanza of four lines
  • Estonian: katrään — a stanza of four lines
  • Finnish: nelisäe — a stanza of four lines
  • French: quatrain — a stanza of four lines
  • German: Quartett — a stanza of four lines
  • Indonesian: caturlarik — a stanza of four lines
  • Indonesian: pantun — a stanza of four lines
  • Indonesian: sajak empat baris — a stanza of four lines
  • Italian: quartina — a stanza of four lines
  • Japanese: 四行連 (yongyōren) — a stanza of four lines
  • Japanese: クウォートレイン (kuwōtorein) — a stanza of four lines
  • Japanese: クワトレイン (kuwatorein) — a stanza of four lines
  • Northern Kurdish: çarîne — a stanza of four lines
  • Lithuanian: katrenas — a stanza of four lines
  • Persian: رباعی (robâ'i) — a stanza of four lines
  • Polish: czterowiersz — a stanza of four lines
  • Polish: tetrastych — a stanza of four lines
  • Polish: kwartyna — a stanza of four lines
  • Portuguese: quarteto — a stanza of four lines
  • Portuguese: quadra — a stanza of four lines
  • Romanian: catren — a stanza of four lines
  • Russian: четверости́шие (četverostíšije) — a stanza of four lines
  • Russian: катре́н (katrɛ́n) — a stanza of four lines
  • Serbo-Croatian: катрен — a stanza of four lines
  • Serbo-Croatian: katren — a stanza of four lines
  • Spanish: cuarteto — a stanza of four lines
  • Spanish: cuarteta — a stanza of four lines
  • Spanish: redondilla — a stanza of four lines
  • Spanish: serventesio — a stanza of four lines
  • Swedish: quatrain — a stanza of four lines
  • Swedish: kvadernar — a stanza of four lines
  • Swedish: kvatrin — a stanza of four lines
  • Swedish: fyrrading — a stanza of four lines
  • Tagalog: kuwarteta — a stanza of four lines
  • Turkish: dörtlük — a stanza of four lines
  • Vietnamese: thơ bốn câu — a stanza of four lines
Real reading context

quatrain in complete knowledge articles