triolet

American  

[tree-uh-ley, trahy-uh-lit] / ˌtri əˈleɪ, ˈtraɪ ə lɪt /

noun

1. a short poem of fixed form, having a rhyme scheme of ab, aa, abab, and having the first line repeated as the fourth and seventh lines, and the second line repeated as the eighth.

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triolet British  

/ ˈtriːəʊˌlɛt /

noun

1. a verse form of eight lines, having the first line repeated as the fourth and seventh and the second line as the eighth, rhyming a b a a a b a b

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Etymology

Origin of triolet

1645–55; < French: literally, little trio

Example Sentences

In this age arose the forms which for so long a time were to occupy French singers,—the ballade, the rondeau, the rondel, the triolet, the chant royal and others.

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

There, were probably in the capital few albums, begun by very young girls and afterwards abandoned, which did not contain a sonnet, or oftener a triolet, beautifully written by Emil Knopf for his dear pupil.

From Villa Eden: The Country-House on the Rhine by Auerbach, Berthold

Once a neat refrain you get, Easy is the triolet.

From The Book of Humorous Verse by Wells, Carolyn

The ballade, rondeau and triolet are favorite expressions of this style of verse, for in general its writers seek difficult stanza forms with rhymes natural but never hackneyed.

From Rhymes and Meters A Practical Manual for Versifiers by Winslow, Horatio

From a newspaper cutting with another very poor comic triolet sent me by G. M. H. They are signed BRAN.

From Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins Now First Published by Bridges, Robert Seymour