| Beast fable | Moralizing tale illustrating human behaviour through animal characters |
| Breton lai | Short verse tale dealing with love and/or the supernatural |
| Estates satire | Satirical caricature of the traditional classes of society, highlighting their dysfunction |
| Exemplum | A moralizing tale, illustrating how (not) to live one’s life |
| Fabliau | Verse tale, often obscene, ridiculing members of some social class or profession and celebrating trickery |
| Fragment | In Chaucer studies, a group of Canterbury Tales connected by links (prologues and epilogues) as well as internal cross-referencing |
| Holograph | A manuscript in the author’s own hand |
| Minstrel romance | Short, formulaic verse form for oral delivery |
| Physiognomy | Character analysis on the basis of outward features |
| Romance | Verse tale of adventure and/or courtly love |
| The Three Estates | Society’s main classes: clergy, nobility, and peasantry |