villanelle

enUK

vil·la·nelle

V0100900 (vĭl′ə-nĕl′)n. A 19-line poem of fixed form consisting of five tercets and a final quatrain on two rhymes, with the first and third lines of the first tercet repeated alternately as a refrain closing the succeeding stanzas and joined as the final couplet of the quatrain.
[French, from Italian villanella, from feminine of villanello, rustic, from villano, peasant, from Vulgar Latin *vīllānus, from Latin vīlla, country house; see weik- in Indo-European roots.]

villanelle

(ˌvɪləˈnɛl) n (Poetry) a verse form of French origin consisting of 19 lines arranged in five tercets and a quatrain. The first and third lines of the first tercet recur alternately at the end of each subsequent tercet and both together at the end of the quatrain[C16: from French, from Italian villanella]

vil•la•nelle

(ˌvɪl əˈnɛl)

n. a short poem of fixed form, written in tercets, usu. five in number, followed by a final quatrain, all being based on two rhymes. [1580–90; < French < Italian; see villanella]