string quartette
- noun
- /strɪŋ kwɔːrˈtɛt/
- Archaic
- The string quartette played beautifully at the wedding.
Examples
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A typical string quartette includes two violinists, a violist, and a cellist.
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The string quartette played Mozart's music beautifully at the recital.
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He composed a new string quartette for the orchestra's upcoming concert.
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Did you hear the string quartette at the concert?
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A typical string quartette includes two violinists, a violist, and a cellist.
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The string quartette played Mozart's music beautifully at the recital.
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He composed a new string quartette for the orchestra's upcoming concert.
Synonyms
A piece of music written for four instruments or singers
A group of two violins, a viola, and a cello or music written for that group
A piece of music written for four instruments
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'string' (relating to bowed string instruments) with 'quartette' (an ensemble of four performers), yielding an ensemble of four string instruments or a composition for such a group. This compositional pattern is cross-linguistically common and straightforward, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
String quartette: The noun string quartette comes from the clear image of four string instruments played together: usually two violins, a viola and a cello. The word quartette points to 'four players', so string quartette means both a small group of four musicians and a piece of music written for them.