virelai

English

Alternative forms

• virelay

Etymology

From Old French virelai, alteration (after lai) of vireli.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈvɪɹəleɪ/

Noun

virelai (plural virelais)

1. (historical, poetry) A medieval poetic form consisting of two or more three line units in each stanza, in the form aabaab... and continuing on in that pattern.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Now making layes of loue and louers paine, / Bransles, Ballads, virelayes, and verses vaine [...].

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /viʁ.lɛ/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

virelai m (plural virelais)

1. (poetry) virelai

Further reading

• “virelai”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Noun

virelai m (plural virelais)

1. virelai

Old French

Noun

virelai oblique singular, m (oblique plural virelais, nominative singular virelais, nominative plural virelai)

1. virelai

Descendants

• → English: virelai
• French: virelai