tercet

American  

[tur-sit, tur-set] / ˈtɜr sɪt, tɜrˈsɛt /

noun

1. Prosody. a group of three lines rhyming together or connected by rhyme with the adjacent group or groups of three lines.

2. Music. triplet.

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tercet British  

/ tɜːˈsɛt, ˈtɜːsɪt /

noun

1. a group of three lines of verse that rhyme together or are connected by rhyme with adjacent groups of three lines

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Etymology

Origin of tercet

1590–1600; < French < Italian terzetto, diminutive of terzo third < Latin tertius. See -et

Explanation

A tercet is a poem or a stanza with three lines. English-language haiku is one example of a simple, non-rhyming tercet. A haiku is a stand-alone tercet, a complete poem in three lines (and, often, 17 syllables). Other poems are broken into stanzas, each of which is a tercet. Tercets frequently rhyme in an ABA pattern, like the stanzas in Shelley's Ode to the West Wind: lines of the first tercet end with "being," "dead," and "fleeing," and the next with "red," "thou," and "bed." The Latin root of tercet means "third."

Example Sentences

Listen to the first tercet of “The Smile”:

From Washington Post • Mar. 16, 2016

Then, picking up the "moon" rhyme for the first line, and plainly echoing Fitzgerald, Thompson expands into a longer-lined, highly emotive tercet.

From The Guardian • Dec. 17, 2012

The word means "time rhythm," and it describes a flexible tercet that has the form of a syllogism and the force of a heroic haiku.

From Time Magazine Archive

The poem opens with a noted tercet: Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a gloomy wood For the straight way was lost utterly.

From Time Magazine Archive

The tercet of the maidens is one of the loveliest pieces of music ever written.

From The Standard Operaglass Detailed Plots of One Hundred and Fifty-one Celebrated Operas by Annesley, Charles, pseud.