Etymology

Today it means: A complicated French poetic form, a variation of the ballad form, consisting of five eleven-line stanzas with the rhyme scheme a-b-a-b-c-c-d-d-e-d-E and a five-line envoi rhyming d-d-e-d-E or a seven-line envoi c-c-d-d-e-d-E. Rhyming words cannot be repeated. Full definition →