tercet

/ˈtɛrsət/

Other forms: tercets

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."

Definitions of tercet

1. noun

   a rhythmic group of three lines of verse
   synonyms: triplet

   type of:

   stanza

   a fixed number of lines of verse forming a unit of a poem
2. noun

   the cardinal number that is the sum of one and one and one
   synonyms: 3, III, deuce-ace, leash, ternary, ternion, terzetto, three, threesome, tierce, trey, triad, trine, trinity, trio, triplet, troika

   type of:

   digit, figure

   one of the elements that collectively form a system of numeration