couplet

From French couplet, from couple + -et. Doublet of cabaletta.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkʌp.lət/, /ˈkʌplɪt/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌplət

couplet (plural couplets)

1. A set of two things, particularly

   Coordinate terms: singlet, triplet, quadruplet, tetraplet, quintuplet, pentuplet, sextuplet, septuplet, octuplet, nonuplet, decuplet, centuplet, multiplet

   1. (literature) A pair of lines, typically with rhyming end words.

      Coordinate terms: tercet, quatrain, cinquain, sestet, septet, octave

   2. A pair of one-way streets which carry opposing directions of traffic through gridded urban areas.

      5th Street is one-way west only and 6th Street is one-way east only. Together, they form a couplet in Downtown Los Angeles.

      Synonym: one-way pair

   3. (taxonomy) A pair of two mutually exclusive choices in a dichotomous key.
      • 2001, Stephen T. Ross, The Inland Fishes of Mississippi, page 33:

        The dichotomous keys are constructed so that each couplet presents a set of alternative choices.

      • 2004, Shin'ichiro Ishikawa, An Exploration of a New Poetic Expression Beyond Dichotomy:

        As long as the correct statement of each couplet is chosen, and the unknown organism is included in the key, a confident identification is usually achieved.

• See Thesaurus:duo

• heroic couplet
• rhyming couplet

• octuple

Borrowed from French couplet, from Middle French couplet, from Old French couplet.

• IPA^(key): /kuˈplɛt/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cou‧plet
• Rhymes: -ɛt

couplet n (plural coupletten, diminutive coupletje n)

1. verse of a song

• refrein

• → Papiamentu: kuplèt, couplet

From couple +‎ -et.

• IPA^(key): /ku.plɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

couplet m (plural couplets)

1. (music) verse
2. (literature) couplet

• → Dutch: couplet
• → English: couplet
• → German: Couplet
• → Spanish: cuplé
• → Russian: купле́т (kuplét)

• refrain

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