fauxbourdon

[ foh-ber-don; French foh-boor-dawn ]

noun

1. Music. a 15th-century compositional technique employing three voices, the upper and lower voices progressing an octave or a sixth apart while the middle voice extemporaneously doubles the upper part at a fourth below.
2. the use of progressions of parallel sixth chords.

Word History and Origins

Origin of fauxbourdon¹

1875–80; < French: literally, false bourdon