virelai

V4I1R1E1L1A1I1
UK/ˈvɪɹəleɪ/

noun

A medieval poetic form consisting of two or more three line units in each stanza, with the rhyme scheme AABAAB.

OriginOld French virelai →
Scrabble 10
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Meanings

nounvirelai (plural virelais)

plural virelais · alternative virelay

  1. historicalcommunicationsA medieval poetic form consisting of two or more three line units in each stanza, with the rhyme scheme AABAAB.

    Now making layes of loue and louers paine, Bransles, Ballads, virelayes, and verses vaine [...].

    1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC
    1 more example

    Methinks my life is a twice-written scroll Scrawled over on some boyish holiday With idle songs for pipe and virelay, Which do but mar the secret of the whole.

    1881, Oscar Wilde, Hélas!

Origin

  1. Old Frenchvirelai
  2. Englishvirelai

From Old French virelai, alteration (after lai) of vireli.

More words from Old French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

virelai. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/virelai

MLA

“virelai.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/virelai. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “virelai,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/virelai.

Source: virelai on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.