ballad

Reading level: hard

Estimated CEFR level: B2 — Upper-Intermediate

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

  1. noun a narrative song with a recurrent refrain
  2. noun a narrative poem of popular origin

Etymology

From French ballade, from Old Occitan ballada (“poem for a dance”), from Late Latin ballare. Doublet of balada and ballade.

In classic literature

Synonyms

lay

A single word — an entire dictionary opens.

Type a word, a sentence, a book title, or a link to an English article. WordNet and the Classics answer.

Try

A library of classics · a vault of words · instant etymology & meaning

Continue reading