tercet

American  

[tur-sit, tur-set] / ˈtɜr sɪt, tɜrˈsɛt /

noun

1. Prosody. a group of three lines rhyming together or connected by rhyme with the adjacent group or groups of three lines.

2. Music. triplet.

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tercet British  

/ tɜːˈsɛt, ˈtɜːsɪt /

noun

1. a group of three lines of verse that rhyme together or are connected by rhyme with adjacent groups of three lines

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Etymology

Origin of tercet

1590–1600; < French < Italian terzetto, diminutive of terzo third < Latin tertius. See -et

Example Sentences

Listen to the first tercet of “The Smile”:

From Washington Post • Mar. 16, 2016

Then, picking up the "moon" rhyme for the first line, and plainly echoing Fitzgerald, Thompson expands into a longer-lined, highly emotive tercet.

From The Guardian • Dec. 17, 2012

The word means "time rhythm," and it describes a flexible tercet that has the form of a syllogism and the force of a heroic haiku.

From Time Magazine Archive

The poem opens with a noted tercet: Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a gloomy wood For the straight way was lost utterly.

From Time Magazine Archive

In this case the tercets are united in groups of three to form a strophe of fourteen lines together with a final couplet riming with the middle line of the preceding tercet.

From English Verse Specimens Illustrating its Principles and History by Alden, Raymond MacDonald