fauxbourdon

[foh-ber-don; French foh-boor-dawn]

noun

Music. a 15th-century compositional technique employing three voices, the upper and lower voices progressing an octave or a sixth apart while the middle voice extemporaneously doubles the upper part at a fourth below.
the use of progressions of parallel sixth chords.

Origin of fauxbourdon

1875–80; < French: literally, false bourdon

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018