1801, in music, from Italian sestetto, diminutive of sesto "sixth," from Latin sextus (see Sextus). Same as sextet. More usually "the concluding two stanzas (six lines) of a sonnet" (1859).
Entries linking to sestet
Sextus
masc. proper name, from Latin, properly "the sixth," originally denoting a sixth child, from sextus "sixth," from sex "six" (see six; compare Octavian).
sextet n.
1841, also sextette, "work for six voices," altered (by influence of German Sextett) from sestet (q.v.). As "company or group of six persons or things" by 1873.