Dictionary

couplet en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• kŭp′lĭt
• /ˈkʌp.lət/
• /ˈkʌp.lɪt/

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. A set of two things, particularly. ▸ A pair of lines, typically with rhyming end words.
2. (abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis) A set of two things, particularly. ▸ A pair of lines, typically with rhyming end words. ▸ Ellipsis of antithetical couplet, Chinese couplet, or duilian couplet (“duilian”).
   alt of antithetical couplet
   alt of Chinese couplet
   alt of or duilian couplet
   • As residents across China are handwriting festive couplets and the character fu (fortune) to ring in the Chinese New Year, new content and creative designs have breathed new life into the tradition as topics related to the ingenuity on display have also gone trending on social media recently. 2026 January 8, Wu Jie, “Reimagining couplets for modern expression”, in Global Times:
   • At the session, vivid displays of cultural elements related to the Spring Festival, such as couplets, dragon dance, and Chinese knots, accompanied by melodies full of Spring Festival flavor, brought the festival's rich traditions to life. 2024 December 9, He Yin, “UNESCO inscribes Spring Festival on intangible cultural heritage list, promoting exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations”, in People's Daily Online:
3. A set of two things, particularly. ▸ 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.
4. A set of two things, particularly. ▸ A pair of two mutually exclusive choices in a dichotomous key.
   • 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. 2004, Shin'ichiro Ishikawa, An Exploration of a New Poetic Expression Beyond Dichotomy:
   • The dichotomous keys are constructed so that each couplet presents a set of alternative choices. 2001, Stephen T. Ross, The Inland Fishes of Mississippi, page 33:

Forms

Deriveds

heroic couplet · rhyming couplet · coupleteer

Synonyms

duo · one-way pair

Translations (47)

el κουπλέ (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · fr couplet (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · yue 對句 /对句 (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · fa بِیْت (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · be купле́т (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · eo duversaĵo (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · tl dalawahan (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · id kuplet (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · mk двостих (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · az beyt (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · id untai (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · be двуве́рш (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · uk купле́т (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · bg купле́т (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · bg двусти́шие (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · sk kuplet (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · tg думисрагӣ (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · ro distih (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · su pada (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · pl dystych (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · tg байт (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · te ద్విపద (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · ka ბაითი (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · cs dvojverší (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · ha ƙwàr̃ (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · pt parelha (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · hy երկյակ (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · ja 対句 (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · ru двусти́шие (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · pl dwuwiersz (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · tr beyit (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · eo strofo (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · cmn 對句 /对句 (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · vi đối (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · mk купле́т (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · sl distih (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · vi câu đối (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · hy բեյթ (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · tl kopla (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · ko 대구 (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · fi kupletti (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · de Couplet (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · id bait (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · ru купле́т (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · uk двові́рш (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · fi säepari (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words) · tl dulay (in poetry, a pair of lines with rhyming end words)