a French verse form in short, usually octosyllabic, rhyming couplets (couplet). The couplets are often paired in quatrains and are characterized by a refrain that is sometimes a single word and sometimes the full second line of the couplet or the full fourth line of the quatrain.

The word is from the Old French kiriele, which is a derivative of the word Kyrie, a type of Christian liturgical prayer.