Playlets

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small or short dramatic work intended for performance, typically involving a limited number of characters and a concise narrative
2. A brief theatrical piece that often encapsulates a single theme or idea, performed by a few actors
3. A miniature play focused on delivering a pointed message or entertaining vignette, often with a quick resolution

Etymology: "Playlet" is "play" with the diminutive suffix "-let", which English took from Old French "-elet" and which has been used since the Middle Ages to mark something small: a "streamlet" is a little stream, a "booklet" a little book. Attaching it to "play" produced a word meaning a short, usually one-act drama, a small-scale version of the full-length play. "Playlets" is simply the plural, so it refers to several of these short pieces at once. The suffix does the same work in all of them, so the word needs no special history beyond the fact that "play" is an Old English word, descended from a Germanic root meaning to exercise, frolic or perform, that once covered ordinary sport as well as theatre.

Synonyms: one-acts, short plays, skits, vignettes, dramas