conte

• POS: Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

conte, n. [F.].

 A short narrative or tale, esp. one dealing with surprising or marvelous events.
"The conte (sic) is a tale something more than a sketch, it may be, and something less than a short story. . . . The “Canterbury Tales” are contes, most of them, if not all, and so are some of the “Tales of a Wayside Inn.”"  [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

conte, n.
1 a short story (as a form of literary composition).
2 a medieval narrative tale.

Etymology

F