Word.ws English Dictionary

quadrivium

UK/kwɒˈdɹɪvɪ.əm/US/kwɑˈdɹɪvi.əm/

quadrivium noun: the higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music.

Noun

quadrivium (plural quadriviums or quadrivia)

  1. (historical) The higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music.
    • As to the nature of his studies, there can be no doubt that he [Dante] went through the trivium (grammar, dialectic, rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, music, geometry, and astronomy) of the then ordinary university course.1876, James Russell Lowell, Among My Books, Second series
    • The riddle of existence is the college curriculum that was laid before the Pharaohs, that was taught in the groves by Plato, that formed the trivium and quadrivium, and is to-day laid before the freedmen’s sons by Atlanta University.1903 April 18, W[illiam] E[dward] Burghardt Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk: Essays and Sketches, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg & Co., →OCLC
    Synonyms:
    quadrium

Synonyms of quadrivium

Forms of quadrivium

pluralquadriviums
pluralquadrivia

Origin of quadrivium

From Medieval Latin quadrivium (“the four mathematical studies”), from Latin quattuor (“four”) + via (“road”).

Questions about quadrivium

What does quadrivium mean?
Quadrivium means the higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music.
What part of speech is quadrivium?
Quadrivium is a noun.
How do you pronounce quadrivium?
Quadrivium is pronounced /kwɒˈdɹɪvɪ.əm/ (UK).
What is the plural of quadrivium?
The plural of quadrivium is quadriviums.

Words near quadrivium in the dictionary

  1. quadrivial
  2. quadrivials
  3. quadrivious
  4. quadrivirus
  5. quadriviruses
  6. quadrivium
  7. quadriviums
  8. quadrivoltine
  9. quadriwave
  10. quadro-
  11. quadrobic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quadrivium (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: “quadrivium.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quadrivium. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.