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🎤 A two-person show 🎤 To perform together 🎼 A song for two 📱 A split-screen video
duet

duet

1 2.7
A musical piece for two singers or players
  • noun
  • /djuˈɛt/
: dúo
  • Rachel and I often play Baroque duets written for flutes, but we have adapted them for guitars.
  • a duet for two
  • part in the duet

Would you ever do a flute duet with this person?

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Examples

  • And Jane Sibery famously did a beautiful duet with KD Lang called Calling All Angels that was part of the Until the End of the World soundtrack way back when.

  • You must play us a duet.

    Sense and Sensibility (1995)

  • Come on, folks, get ready for the duet number.

    42nd Street (1933)

  • I need a duet for the fall concert.

    CODA (2021)

  • You know, this was written as a duet.

    De-Lovely (2004)

  • Would you like me to teach you how to play a duet?

    Bicentennial Man (1999)

  • Would you ever do a flute duet with this person?

    Vanity Fair

  • Several participants said that it was great to play duets at home with their grandchildren.

    Academic text (1992)

  • A soprano duet sang high, clear, simple melodies from France, Germany, England, and the Americas.

    Fiction book (1999)

  • The singer and pianist collaborated on a beautiful duet for the concert.

Synonyms

duo
vsduet
  • Specialized
1 3.2

A piece of music for two players, for example violin and piano

is more specific and often for singers or instrumentalists
duette
vsduet
  • Archaic
8.2

A musical piece for two people who sing or play instruments

is mainly the written composition rather than the performance

How Many

ensemble
53 5.3
quartet
5 3.4
trio
8 3.3
duet
1 2.7
to solo
6 4.2

Surface Forms

duet singular
duets plural

Morphology

duet = duo (transparent) = duo + et

The sense 'musical composition for two performers' is a direct nominal sense from 'duo' + '-et', so the relation is clear.

Etymology

Duet comes from the Italian duetto, a little form of duo, and from Latin duo meaning 'two'. That's why a duet can mean a piece of music written for two performers, made to be sung or played together by two people.