kyrielle

noun

kyr·​i·​elle

¦kirē¦el

plural kyrielle

: a French verse form in short usually octosyllabic rhyming couplets often paired in quatrains and characterized by a refrain which is sometimes a single word or sometimes the full second line of the couplet or fourth line of the quatrain

Word History

Etymology

French, from Old French kyriele, literally, kyrie eleison, from Late Latin kyrie eleison

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