English▸ noun a part-song for several voices, especially one of the Renaissance period, typically arranged in elaborate counterpoint and without instrumental accompaniment. Originally used of a genre of 14th-century Italian songs, the term now usually refers to English or Italian songs of the late 16th and early 17th c., in a free style strongly influenced by the text.
– ORIGIN from Italian madrigale (from medieval Latin carmen matricale ‘simple song’), from matricalis ‘maternal or primitive’, from matrix ‘womb’.