1. a short comic or satirical verse tale popular in medieval French literature, typically featuring ordinary people in humorous or ribald situations
Usage: literary; historical

Examples

• The medieval fabliau often mocked social conventions through clever wordplay.
• Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales includes several stories influenced by the fabliau tradition.
• Students of medieval literature study the fabliau as an important narrative form.
• The fabliau typically featured merchants, clerks, and other middle-class characters.
• Many fabliaux were performed by traveling minstrels in medieval France.
• The humor in a fabliau often relied on mistaken identity or clever deception.