Monostich

//məˈnɒstɪk// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A poem having only one line.

    "Monostich is a self-contained, stand-alone poem consisting of a single line. It is also sometimes referred to as a micro-poem or one-line haiku. The magic of monostich poems lies in their brevity."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Containing a single line of verse.

    "The piece is described on the title-page as being written 'chiefly in imitation of Aeschylus,' and in accordance with the Greek model it contains monostich passages, and is furnished with a Chorus and a Messenger."

Example

More examples

"Monostich is a self-contained, stand-alone poem consisting of a single line. It is also sometimes referred to as a micro-poem or one-line haiku. The magic of monostich poems lies in their brevity."

Etymology

From Ancient Greek μόνος (mónos, “alone, single”) + στίχος (stíkhos, “line”). See stich.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.