sestet

[ se-stet, ses-tet ]

/ sɛˈstɛt, ˈsɛs tɛt /

noun

Prosody. the last six lines of a sonnet in the Italian form, considered as a unit.Compare octave(def 4a).

Nearby words

sessions, sessions, roger, sesterce, sestertium, sestertius, sestet, sestina, sesto san giovanni, sestos, set, set a precedent

Origin of sestet

1795–1805; < Italian sestetto sextet, equivalent to sest(o) (< Latin sextus sixth) + -etto -et

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for sestet

I confess, though, that I did not know that Petrarch had made so frequent use of the 2-rhyme sestet.
The Letters of Ambrose Bierce|Ambrose Bierce
One of these must be in the octave and the other in the sestet.
The Circus, and Other Essays and Fugitive Pieces|Joyce Kilmer
The moderated tone of the piece is of very good effect after the ponderous length of the sestet.
Life Of Mozart, Vol. 3 (of 3)|Otto Jahn
Most critics prefer those forms of sestet which avoid a final riming couplet.
English Verse|Raymond MacDonald Alden, Ph.D.

The octet was finished and the first two lines of the sestet.
Orpheus in Mayfair and Other Stories and Sketches|Maurice Baring

British Dictionary definitions for sestet

sestet

/ (sɛˈstɛt) /

noun

prosody the last six lines of a Petrarchan sonnet

prosody any six-line stanza

another word for sextet (def. 1)

Word Origin for sestet

C19: from Italian sestetto, from sesto sixth, from Latin sextus, from sex six

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for sestet

sestet

1801, from Italian sestetto, diminutive of sesto "sixth," from Latin sextus (see Sextus).