terza rima

American  

[tert-suh ree-muh, ter-tsah ree-mah] / ˈtɛrt sə ˈri mə, ˈtɛr tsɑ ˈri mɑ /

noun

Prosody.

1. an Italian form of iambic verse consisting of eleven-syllable lines arranged in tercets, the middle line of each tercet rhyming with the first and last lines of the following tercet.

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terza rima British  

/ ˈtɛətsə ˈriːmə /

noun

1. a verse form of Italian origin consisting of a series of tercets in which the middle line of one tercet rhymes with the first and third lines of the next

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Etymology

Origin of terza rima

1810–20; < Italian: third rhyme