fabliau

 
Pronunciation: /ˈfablɪəʊ/

noun (plural fabliaux /-əʊz/)

  • a metrical tale, typically a bawdily humorous one, of a type found chiefly in early French poetry: one may dispute that the French fabliaux are pornographic [as modifier]: a distinctive feature of fabliau language

Origin:

from Old French (Picard dialect) fabliaux, plural of fablel 'short fable', diminutive of fable