ottava rima

[oh-tah-vuh ree-muh]

noun

plural

ottava rimas 

1. an Italian stanza of eight lines, each of eleven syllables (or, in the English adaptation, of ten or eleven syllables), the first six lines rhyming alternately and the last two forming a couplet with a different rhyme: used in Keats' Isabella and Byron's Don Juan.

ottava rima

/ ˈriːmə /

noun

1. prosody a stanza form consisting of eight iambic pentameter lines, rhyming a b a b a b c c

Word History and Origins

Origin of ottava rima¹

1810–20; < Italian: octave rhyme

Word History and Origins

Origin of ottava rima¹

Italian: eighth rhyme