couplet

American  

[kuhp-lit] / ˈkʌp lɪt /

noun

1. a pair of successive lines of verse, especially a pair that rhyme and are of the same length.

2. a pair; couple.

3. Music. any of the contrasting sections of a rondo occurring between statements of the refrain.

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couplet British  

/ ˈkʌplɪt /

noun

1. two successive lines of verse, usually rhymed and of the same metre

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couplet Cultural  

1. A pair of lines of verse that rhyme. Some poems, such as “The Night Before Christmas,” are written entirely in couplets:

   `Twas the night before Christmas , when all through the house

   Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

   The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

   In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.

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Etymology

Origin of couplet

From Middle French, dating back to 1570–80; see origin at couple, -et

Explanation

A couplet is two lines of poetry that usually rhyme. Here's a famous couplet: "Good night! Good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow / That I shall say good night till it be morrow." The couplet above comes from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which is a play, not a poem. But Shakespeare often used rhyming couplets at the end of scenes to signal the ending. Couplets are very common in poetry. Often whole poems are written in couplet form — two lines of rhyming poetry, followed by two more lines with a different rhyme, and so on. Robert Frost, one of America's great poets, wrote many poems using couplets.

Example Sentences

A centuries-old Persian couplet often repeated in Indian-administered Kashmir translates to: "If there is a paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here."

From BBC • Jul. 11, 2025

So fullness of that scene did have to be compressed down to that little couplet.

From Salon • Aug. 12, 2024

But “Lip Service” by Costello and the Attractions has the all-time classic couplet: “When did you become so choosy? Don’t act like you’re above me, just look at your shoes.”

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2023

“And perhaps the sun blows kisses to the moon as it departs/they work two separate shifts with one beating heart” is a representative couplet from Hal’s verse.

From New York Times • Oct. 27, 2022

And then she sang to herself, a little couplet Bod had never heard before.

From "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman

Related Words

• verse