n.
Pronunciation: se- ' st ē -n ə
Function: noun
Etymology: Italian, from sesto sixth
Date: circa 1586
: a lyrical fixed form consisting of six 6-line usually unrhymed stanzas in which the end words of the first stanza recur as end words of the following five stanzas in a successively rotating order and as the middle and end words of the three verses of the concluding tercet