villanella

American  

[vil-uh-nel-uh, veel-lah-nel-lah] / ˌvɪl əˈnɛl ə, ˌvil lɑˈnɛl lɑ /

noun

• villanelle
  plural

1. a rustic Italian part song without accompaniment.

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villanella British  

/ ˌvɪləˈnɛlə /

noun

1. a type of part song originating in Naples during the 16th century

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• villanelle
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of villanella

1590–1600; < Italian, feminine of villanello rural, rustic, equivalent to villan ( o ) peasant, boor ( see villain) + -ello -ish

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

villanelle

The confines of a structure make your brain work in a different way: How do I get this idea across in a sonnet or a villanelle?

From Los Angeles Times ● May 11, 2026

For my first experiment, I had the A.I. write a villanelle, a rather difficult poetic form, about the death of a pet gerbil.

From Slate ● Dec. 13, 2022

Elizabeth Bishop’s wrenching villanelle, “One Art,” can be seen this way.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 11, 2020

This is the distinction Elizabeth Bishop illuminates, by pretending to elide it, in her villanelle “One Art,” perhaps the most famous reckoning with loss in all of literature.

From The New Yorker ● Feb. 5, 2017

“Mine have poetic meter. A villanelle, actually,” Beowulf added modestly.

From "The Long-Lost Home" by Maryrose Wood

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