villanelle
/vɪləˈnɛl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.71 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "By definition the villanelle is restrictive, because it demands nineteen lines on two rhymes in six stanzas, the first and third lines of the opening tercet recurring alternately at the end of the concluding quatrain."
- "But “Some Rules” is a villanelle, and it mostly follows the rules of the genre, an old French form that has found favor among modern English-language poets. (See Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night,” another advice-giving villanelle.)"
Etymology
From the French villanelle, from Italian villanella, from villano (“peasant”), from Latin vīllānus (“farmhand”), from vīlla (“estate”). The origin references the pastoral themes originally associated with this form.
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: villanelle, villanella, vīllānus