Word.ws English Dictionary

quarterfoil

quarterfoil is the archaic form of quatrefoil.

Meaning of quatrefoil

Noun

quatrefoil (plural quatrefoils)

  1. A symmetrical shape that forms the overall outline of four partially-overlapping circles of the same diameter.
    • It was a narrow, gravelled island we had to lie on, guarded by glazed brick chimneys and, running along the sides, a prickly little gothic fence of iron finials and terracotta quatrefoils.1988, Alan Hollinghurst, The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 142
  2. A stylized flower or leaf with four lobes.

Forms of quarterfoil

pluralquarterfoils

Questions about quarterfoil

What is quarterfoil the archaic form of?
Quarterfoil is the archaic form of quatrefoil.

Words near quarterfoil in the dictionary

  1. quartereth
  2. quarterfinal
  3. quarterfinalist
  4. quarterfinalists
  5. quarterfinals
  6. quarterfoil
  7. quarterfoils
  8. quarterfold
  9. quarterfolds
  10. quarterhorse
  11. quarterhorses

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: quarterfoil (page history and authors); quatrefoil (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: “quarterfoil.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/quarterfoil. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.