An alternative modern term, "irrational rhythm", was originally borrowed from Greek prosody where it referred to "a syllable having a metrical value not corresponding to its actual time-value, or ... a metrical foot containing such a syllable" (Oxford English Dictionary, entry "irrational").
[5] The term "polyrhythm" (or "polymeter"), sometimes incorrectly used instead of "tuplets", actually refers to the simultaneous use of opposing time signatures.
[6] Besides "triplet", the terms "duplet", "quadruplet", "quintuplet", "sextuplet", "septuplet", and "octuplet" are used frequently.
The terms "nonuplet", "decuplet", "undecuplet", "dodecuplet", and "tredecuplet" had been suggested but up until 1925 had not caught on.
[8] The most common tuplet[9] is the triplet (German Triole, French triolet, Italian terzina or tripletta, Spanish tresillo).
To avoid ambiguity, composers sometimes write the ratio explicitly instead of just a single number.
A French alternative is to write pour ("for") or de ("of") in place of the colon, or above the bracketed "irregular" number.
[15][16] There are disagreements about the sextuplet (pronounced with stress on the first syllable, according to Baker[17]—which is also called sestole, sestolet, sextole, or sextolet.
Tuplets can produce rhythms such as the hemiola or may be used as polyrhythms when played against the regular duration.
Tuplet is featured in South African music, especially within gqom and its variants, core tribe and taxi kick.