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qua·drille²

(kwŏ-drĭl, kwə-, kə-)

A card game popular during the 1700s, played by four people with a deck of 40 cards.

[French, perhaps from Spanish cuartillo, diminutive of cuarto, fourth, from Latin quārtus; see k^wetwer- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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