an elaborate verse form of Italian origin, normally unrhymed, consisting of six stanzas of six lines each and a concluding tercet. The six final words of the lines in the first stanza are repeated in a different order in each of the remaining five stanzas and also in the concluding tercet
Also called: sestine, sextain
Word origin
C19: from Italian, from sesto sixth, from Latin sextus
sestina in American English
(sɛsˈtinə)
nounWord forms: pluralsesˈtinas or sesˈtine (sɛsˈtineɪ)
an elaborate verse form of six six-line stanzas and a tercet: the end words of the first stanza are repeated in varying combinations in the other five stanzas and the tercet