Quadrivium

//kwɒˈdɹɪvɪ.əm// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The higher division of the seven liberal arts in the Middle Ages, composed of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music. historical

    "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."

  2. 2
    (Middle Ages) a higher division of the curriculum in a medieval university involving arithmetic and music and geometry and astronomy wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
areacoursecurriculumdisciplineelectivefield

Example

More examples

"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."

Etymology

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

Related phrases

liberal artsmiddle ages

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