sestina

See also: šestina, șestina, and șestină

English

Etymology

From Italian sestina. Doublet of sextain.

Noun

sestina (plural sestinas)

1. (poetry) A highly structured poem consisting of six six-line stanzas followed by a tercet or envoy, for a total of thirty-nine lines.

   Coordinate terms: pentina, triolet

   • 2002, Annie Finch, Kathrine Varnes, An Exaltation of Forms: Contemporary Poets Celebrate the Diversity of Their Art, University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, page 290:

     Although the sestina is of medieval French origin, attributed to Arnaut Daniel in the late twelfth century and used by other Gallic poets and by Italians including Petrarch and Dante (from whom it received its Italian name), […]

   • 2022, Ian McEwan, Lessons, page 11:

     Would he let others toil to support him while he languished all afternoon over his sestinas?

2. (music) A chord comprising the first six members of the harmonic series.

Related terms

• sestine
• sextain

Translations

A highly structured poem

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Catalan: sextina f
• Czech: sestina f
• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: please add this translation if you can
• Estonian: sekstiin
• Finnish: sestiini
• French: sextine (fr) f
• Friulian: sestine f
• Georgian: სექსტინა (seksṭina)
• German: Sestine f
• Greek: σεστίνα f (sestína)
• Hungarian: sestina, szesztina
• Italian: sestina (it) f
• Latvian: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: sestyna f, sekstyna f
• Portuguese: sextina f
• Romanian: sextină (ro) f
• Russian: сексти́на (ru) f (sekstína)
• Slovak: sestína f
• Slovene: sekstina f
• Spanish: sextina f
• Swedish: sestin c

Further reading

• sestina on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Eastins, Saintes, Setians, Staines, entasis, nasties, tansies, tisanes

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛstɪna]
• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛstiːna]

Noun

sestina f

1. (poetry) sestina

Declension

Declension of sestina (hard feminine)

	singular	plural
nominative	sestina	sestiny
genitive	sestiny	sestin
dative	sestině	sestinám
accusative	sestinu	sestiny
vocative	sestino	sestiny
locative	sestině	sestinách
instrumental	sestinou	sestinami

Further reading

• sestina in Příruční slovník jazyka českého, 1935–1957
• sestina in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého, 1960–1971, 1989
• sestina in Kartotéka Novočeského lexikálního archivu

Italian

Etymology

From sesto (“sixth”).

Noun

sestina f (plural sestine)

1. (poetry) a six-line stanza, sestet, sestina, sextain
2. (music) sextuplet

Related terms

• sei

Descendants

• → English: sestina

Anagrams

• assenti, assentì, intessa, issante, sensati