fabliau

American  

[fab-lee-oh, fa-blee-oh] / ˈfæb liˌoʊ, fa bliˈoʊ /

noun

plural

fabliaux

1. a short metrical tale, usually ribald and humorous, popular in medieval France.

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fabliau British  

/ fɑblijo, ˈfæblɪˌəʊ /

noun

1. a comic usually ribald verse tale, of a kind popular in France in the 12th and 13th centuries

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Etymology

Origin of fabliau

1795–1805; < French; Old North French form of Old French fablel, fableau, equivalent to fable fable + -el diminutive suffix; see -elle

Example Sentences

The farce and the prose tale almost outdo the more naïf fabliau in this.

From A Short History of French Literature by Saintsbury, George

The fabliau, on the other hand, according to the best definition of it yet achieved, is “the recital, generally comic, of a real or possible incident occurring in ordinary human life.”

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various

The prose-tale and the farce are the direct outcomes of the fabliau, and the prose-tale and the farce once given, the novel and the comedy inevitably follow.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various

The special period of fabliau composition appears to have been the 12th and 13th centuries.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various

Fabliaux.—There are few literary products which have more originality and at the same time more diversity than the fabliau.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 11, Slice 2 "French Literature" to "Frost, William" by Various