distich

(dĭs'tĭk)

1. A unit of verse consisting of two lines, especially as used in Greek and Latin elegiac poetry.
2. A rhyming couplet.

[Latin distichon, from Greek distikhon, from neuter of distikhos, having two rows or verses : di-, two; see di-¹ + stikhos, line of verse.]

View more Literature & Language videos

distich [dis‐tik], a pair of verse lines, usually making complete sense, as in the closed couplet. The term is most often applied to the Greek verse form in which a dactylic hexameter is followed by a ‘pentameter’ (actually composed of two dactylic half‐lines of two‐and‐a‐half feet each). This form, known as the elegiac distich or elegiac couplet, was used in Greek and Latin verse for elegies and epigrams, and later by some German poets including Goethe.

A strophic unit of two lines; a pair of poetic lines or verses which together comprise a complete sense.