Meaning & use
octavo
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Meaning
nouncountable
A book format made by folding a printing sheet into eight leaves, or a book produced in that size.
Grammar: Plural is “octavos”; often appears as “in octavo” rather than with “a” in bibliographies.
Patterns
- printed in octavo
- an octavo edition
- folio, quarto, and octavo
The collector chose a compact octavo instead of a heavy folio.
The pamphlet was printed in octavo and sewn by hand.
Folio, quarto, and octavo reflect different foldings of the same sheet.
Word forms
| plural | octavos |
|---|
Common combinations
- in octavo
- The guide was published in octavo for easy travel.
- octavo edition
- The octavo edition is smaller than the museum folio.
- fold into octavo
- The printer planned to fold the sheet into octavo.
Commonly confused: octavo or octave? octavo or folio?
octavo vs octave
An octave is eight musical notes or a poetic stanza of eight lines; octavo concerns book folding.
octavo vs folio
A folio is a larger format, not an opposite; quarto and folio help place octavo in book history.
Practice
Which sentence correctly describes an octavo?
Choose one answer.
Octavo is a book format based on folding a sheet into eight leaves. The musical or poetic “octave” and the larger “folio” are different ideas.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “octavo”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.