quatrefoil

[kat-er-foil, ka-truh-]

noun

1. a leaf composed of four leaflets.

2. Architecture.,  a panellike ornament composed of four lobes, divided by cusps, radiating from a common center.

quatrefoil

/ ˈkætrəˌfɔɪl /

noun

1. a leaf composed of four leaflets

2. architect a carved ornament having four foils arranged about a common centre, esp one used in tracery

Other Word Forms

• quatrefoiled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of quatrefoil¹

1375–1425; Middle English < Middle French quatre four + -foil (as in trefoil )

Word History and Origins

Origin of quatrefoil¹

C15: from Old French, from quatre four + -foil leaflet; compare _trefoil

Example Sentences

The word “command” appears on Apple Macintosh keyboards, along with a quatrefoil icon that some people call the “splat” key.

From Washington Post

Inside, it is decorated with a medallion at the bottom and a quatrefoil motif surrounded by flowers.

From Washington Times

Inside, it is decorated with a medallion at the bottom and a quatrefoil motif surrounded by flowers.

From Seattle Times

They quickly became Vuitton trunk connoisseurs; the company created one with a built-in 29-piece tea service and, in 1896, introduced its quatrefoil logo, inspired by a Japanese mon, a crest used to represent a family or enterprise.

From New York Times

In paintings from the last year or so, viewable in person and online, Mr. Isensee’s lines of color curve, bulge and undulate, forming gorgeous often quatrefoil patterns that evoke gears, jacks and also intarsia Renaissance tables, their inlaid stone updated with a cartoonish bounce.

From New York Times