duet

See also: Duet, düet, Due̩t, and Duët

English

Etymology

PIE word
*dwóh₁

From Italian duetto (“short musical composition for two voices”), diminutive of due (“two”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /djuˈɛt/, /duˈɛt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛt

English numbers ^(edit)

←  1	2	3  → [a], [b]
Cardinal: two     Ordinal: second     Latinate ordinal: secondary     Reverse order ordinal: second to last, second from last, last but one     Latinate reverse order ordinal: penultimate     Adverbial: two times, twice     Multiplier: twofold     Latinate multiplier: double     Distributive: doubly     Germanic collective: pair, twosome     Collective of n parts: doublet, couple, couplet     Greek or Latinate collective: dyad     Metric collective prefix: double-     Greek collective prefix: di-, duo-     Latinate collective prefix: bi-     Fractional: half     Metric fractional prefix: demi-     Latinate fractional prefix: semi-     Greek fractional prefix: hemi-     Elemental: twin, doublet     Greek prefix: deutero-     Number of musicians: duo, duet, duplet     Number of years: biennium

Noun

duet (plural duets)

1. (music) A musical composition in two parts, each performed by a single voice (singer, instrument or univoce ensemble).
2. (music) A song composed for and/or performed by a duo.
3. A pair or couple, especially one that is harmonious or elegant.
   • 2005, James Henderson, Caribbean and the Bahamas:

     The fare is Caribbean with an Asian touch — millefeuille of sun-dried tomato, Paris mushrooms and chargrilled local asparagus followed by a duet of chicken and shrimp...

Synonyms

• (musical composition in two parts): duo
• (pair or couple): couple, pair, twosome; see also Thesaurus:duo

Derived terms

• duetist
• duetlike
• duetter
• duettist
• virtual duet

 

Related terms

• dual
• duo

Translations

a musical composition for two performers

• Bulgarian: дуе́т m (duét)
• Catalan: duo (ca) m, duet m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 二重唱 (zh) (èrchóngchàng) (vocal), 二重奏 (zh) (èrchóngzòu) (instrumental)

• Dutch: duet (nl) n, duo (nl) n
• French: duo (fr) m, duetto (fr) m
• German: Duett (de) n
• Greek: ντουέτο (el) n (ntouéto)
• Hungarian: duett (hu), duó (hu), kettős (hu)
• Italian: duetto (it) m, duo (it) m
• Japanese: 二重唱 (ja) (にじゅうしょう, nijūshō) (vocal), 二重奏 (ja) (にじゅうそう, nijūsō) (instrumental), デュエット (ja) (dyuetto), デュオ (ja) (dyuo)
• Maori: waiata tōrua
• Polish: duet (pl) m, duo (pl) n
• Portuguese: dueto (pt) m
• Russian: дуэ́т (ru) m (duét), дво́йка (ru) f (dvójka), (collective) дво́е (ru) pl (dvóje)
• Scottish Gaelic: òran-càraid m
• Serbo-Croatian: dvopev m
• Slovene: duet m
• Spanish: dúo (es) m, dueto (es) m
• Swedish: duett (sv) c
• Turkish: düet (tr)
• Welsh: deuawd m or f

Verb

duet (third-person singular simple present duets, present participle duetting or dueting, simple past and past participle duetted or dueted)

1. (intransitive) To perform a duet.
   • 1822, Lord Byron, Letter to Mr. Moore, Pisa, July 12, 1822, in The Letters of George Gordon Byron, edited by Mathilde Blind, London: Walter Scott, 1887, p. 277, [1]

     When you can spare time from duetting, coquetting, and claretting with your Hibernians of both sexes, let me have a line from you.

   • 1879, George Meredith, chapter 20, in The Egoist‎^[2]:

     He was about as accordantly coupled with Dr. Middleton in discourse as a drum duetting with a bass-viol […]

   • 2011, Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending, Random House Canada, page 45:

     ‘Ti-yi-yi-yime is on my side, yes it is,’ I used to yodel, duetting with Mick Jagger as I gyrated alone in my student room.

2. (intransitive, zoology, of pairs of animals) To communicate (warnings, mating calls, etc.) through song.
   • 1975, Edward O. Wilson, Sociobiology: The New Synthesis, Belknap Press, p. 223,

     Duetting species are typically monogamous.

   • 1986, Thomas A. Sebeok, chapter 7, in I Think I Am a Verb: More Contributions to the Doctrine of Signs‎^[3], New York: Springer Science+Business, published 2013, page 87:

     In several dozen species of birds there has been found a phenomenon known as duetting, or antiphonal singing: the first part of a song is executed by one partner of a pair, then the other partner very promptly chimes in to sing the second part.

3. (transitive) To perform (sing, play, etc.) as a duet.
   • 1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC:

     Peena and Queena are duetting a giggle-for-giggle […]

     Oxford University Press, 2012, p. 377

   • 1941, Emily Carr, chapter 1, in Klee Wyck‎^[4]:

     After the Lord's Prayer the Missionaries duetted a hymn while the children stared at me.

4. (transitive) (of two people) To say at the same time, to chorus.
   • 1864, Charles Whitehead, “The Stock-Broker”, in Heads of the People: or, Portraits of the English‎^[5], volume I, London: Henry G. Bohn, page 23:

     “My dear papa!” duetted the girls; but there was something in the husband and father's face, that told the three ladies it would be worse than useless to raise that question at present.

   • 1884, Anonymous, A Speculation, Denver: D. M. Richards, Chapter 12, p. 50, [6]

     “A bear!” exclaimed the Major, jumping up and coming forward.

     “A bear!” dueted the Doctor and Right Rev., pressing hastily to the front.

Usage notes

• In the UK and other Commonwealth countries, the present and past participles of this verb are often spelled with a double T: duetted and duetting

See also

• solo
• trio
• quartet
• quintet
• sextet
• septet
• octet
• nonet

Anagrams

• 'tude, -tude, Deut., tude

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian duetto or German Duett (itself borrowed from Italian).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dyˈɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: du‧et
• Rhymes: -ɛt

Noun

duet n (plural duetten, diminutive duetje n)

1. a duet (musical piece performed by two players or two singers)
2. a ballet routine performed by two dancers

Descendants

• Afrikaans: duet
• → Indonesian: duet
• → West Frisian: duët

Indonesian

Etymology

From Dutch duet, from Italian duetto or German Duett (itself borrowed from Italian).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈd̪uɛt̪̚]
• Hyphenation: du‧èt

Noun

duet (first-person possessive duetku, second-person possessive duetmu, third-person possessive duetnya)

1. duet (musical piece performed by two players or two singers).

Further reading

• “duet” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdʉːət/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ət
• Hyphenation: du‧et

Verb

duet

1. simple past and present perfect of due

Polish

Etymology

Borrowed from German Duett, from Italian duetto.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈdu.ɛt/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uɛt
• Syllabification: du‧et

Noun

duet m inan (diminutive duecik)

1. (music) duet (group of two musicians)

   Synonym: duo

2. (music) duet (piece of music written for two musicians)

   Synonym: duo

3. duet (group of two people or things)

   Synonym: duo

Declension

Declension of duet

	singular	plural
nominative	duet	duety
genitive	duetu	duetów
dative	duetowi	duetom
accusative	duet	duety
instrumental	duetem	duetami
locative	duecie	duetach
vocative	duecie	duety

Further reading

• duet in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• duet in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian duetto.

Noun

duet n (plural duete)

1. (music) duet

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	duet	duetul		duete	duetele
genitive-dative	duet	duetului		duete	duetelor
vocative	duetule			duetelor