Word.ws English Dictionary

Henriad

Henriad proper noun: a group of four of Shakespeare’s plays: Richard II; Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; and Henry V, with the implication that these four plays are Shakespeare’s epic poem.

Proper noun

Henriad

  1. A group of four of Shakespeare’s plays: Richard II; Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; and Henry V, with the implication that these four plays are Shakespeare’s epic poem.
  2. Either of two groups of four each of Shakespeare’s plays: The "first Henriad" (Henry VI, part 1, Henry VI, part 2, Henry VI, part 3, and Richard III), and the "second Henriad" (Richard II; Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; and Henry V).https://web.archive.org/web/20210709182046/https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/richard-ii-shakespeare-questions-divine-right-of-kings/
  3. The title translated into English of an epic poem, Le Henriade, by Voltaire.

Origin of Henriad

Popularized in the Shakespearean sense by Alvin Kernan in 1969 in his book The Henriad: Shakespeare’s Major History Plays, from Henry + -iad.

Questions about Henriad

What does Henriad mean?
Henriad means a group of four of Shakespeare’s plays: Richard II; Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; and Henry V, with the implication that these four plays are Shakespeare’s epic poem.
What part of speech is Henriad?
Henriad is a proper noun.

Words near Henriad in the dictionary

  1. henpecks
  2. henpen
  3. henpens
  4. Henquin
  5. Henri
  6. Henriad
  7. Henric
  8. Henrica
  9. Henrichsen
  10. Henrichsens
  11. Henrician

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Henriad (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Henriad.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/henriad. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.