Lekythion

A lekythion or lecythion, in classical Greek and Latin poetry, is a metric pattern (colon) defined by a sequence of seven alternating long and short syllables at the end of a verse (— u — x — u —).

[4] The term lēkythion literally means "small oil-flask" (from ληκύθιον, the diminutive form of λήκυθος, lēkythos).

[3] The term was coined in reference to a passage in the comedy The Frogs by Aristophanes,[1][5] in which the two poets Aeschylus and Euripides are engaged in a comic debate criticizing each other's works.

Aeschylus makes Euripides recite the beginnings of seven of his tragic prologues (all in iambic trimeter), each time interrupting him and interjecting the same phrase "... lost his little oil flask" (ληκύθιον ἀπώλεσεν), wherever the verse offers an opportunity, which is frequently the case because of Euripides' propensity to use a metric caesura after the first five syllables.

[9][10][11] The point of the seven times repeated joke has also been much debated, but the majority of scholars believe that as well as poking fun at the style of Euripides' prologues, there is probably a sexual innuendo, giving the meaning "became impotent", "lost his testicles" etc.