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Glite Dictionary
pas de quatre

pas de quatre

9.9
A dance for four dancers in a ballet
  • noun
  • /pɑː də ˈkwɑːtər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : pas de quatre
  • In the ballet recital, the highlight was the stunning pas de quatre performed by four talented dancers.

Examples

  • You'll probably get to dance the pas de quatre again.

    Black Swan (2010)

  • She practiced diligently to master the choreography of the pas de quatre for the upcoming performance.

  • The director decided to include a pas de quatre in the second act to showcase the dancers' skills.

How Many

ensemble
57 5.3
pas de quatre
  • Specialized
9.9
trio
18 3.3
duet
31 3.1
to solo
3 4.2

Surface Forms

pas de quatre singular
pas de quatre plural

Morphology

pas + de + quatre

The phrase is fully compositional: 'pas' (a dance movement) + 'de' (of/for) + 'quatre' (four) literally yields 'step of four' and thus denotes a dance for four dancers. Although a French loan in English, the meaning follows straightforward morphological logic (number + unit) that a learner who knows the constituent words can derive.

Etymology

The noun pas de quatre comes from French: pas means 'step', de means 'of', and quatre means 'four', so it literally means 'step of four'. Imagine four dancers moving together as one on stage, and that's why it means a ballet dance made for four dancers.