distich

[ dis-tik ]

/ ˈdɪs tɪk /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR distich ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Prosody.

a unit of two lines of verse, usually a self-contained statement; couplet.

a rhyming couplet.

RELATED WORDS

verse, poem, unit

Nearby words

distensible, distensile, distension, distent, distention, distich, distichia, distichous, distil, distill, distilland

Origin of distich

1545–55; < Latin distichon, noun use of neuter of Greek dístichos having two lines, equivalent to di- di-¹ + stíchos row

Related forms

dis·ti·chal, adjectivesub·dis·tich, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for distich

All these proverbs are identical in form: each is expressed in a distich; the apparent exception in xix.
The Expositor's Bible: The Book of Proverbs|R. F. Horton
Here Selvaggi praised him in a distich, and Salsilli in a tetrastich: neither of them of much value.
Lives of the English Poets: Waller, Milton, Cowley|Samuel Johnson
FitzGerald's verse was evidently also influenced by distich 1866 of the Mantik ut-tair.
The Sufistic Quatrains of Omar Khayyam|Omar Khayyam
The distich may be an interpolation, or at least deeply corrupted in its present form.
The Last Poems of Ovid|Ovid

This distich does not belong in the text: it is in itself unintelligible, and interrupts a natural progression from 24 to 27.
The Last Poems of Ovid|Ovid

British Dictionary definitions for distich

distich

/ (ˈdɪstɪk) /

noun

prosody a unit of two verse lines, usually a couplet

Derived Forms

distichal, adjective

Word Origin for distich

C16: from Greek distikhos having two lines, from di- 1 + stikhos stich

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012