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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A Japanese verse form in five lines, the first and third composed of five syllables and the rest of seven.
  2. n. A Tibetan religious painting on fabric, usually portraying the Buddha or lamas in stereotyped aspects.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. The boat population of Canton in southern China, the descendants of an aboriginal tribe named Tan, who were driven by the advance of Chinese civilization to live in boats upon the river, and who have for centuries been forbidden to live on the land. “Since 1730 they have been permitted to settle in villages in the immediate neighbourhood of the river, but are still excluded from competition for official honours, and are forbidden by custom from intermarrying with the rest of the people.” (Giles, Glossary of Reference.)

Wiktionary

  1. n. a form of Japanese verse in five lines of 5,7,5,7,7 syllables
  2. n. a strong, forceful expression
  3. n. a Tibetan painting of the Buddha on fabric.
  4. n. A kind of boat used in Canton, about 25 feet long and often rowed by women.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. (Naut.) A kind of boat used in Canton. It is about 25 feet long and is often rowed by women. Called also tankia.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. a Tibetan religious painting on fabric
  2. n. a form of Japanese poetry; the 1st and 3rd lines have five syllables and the 2nd, 4th, and 5th have seven syllables

Etymologies

  1. From Japanese 啖呵 (tanka). (Wiktionary)
  2. Japanese.Tibetan thaṅka, something rolled up. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “In it, the concluding hemistich of the tanka is left off, and it is just in his hemistich that the meaning of the poem is brought out, so that the hokku is a mere essence, a whiff of an idea to be created in full by the hearer.”

    Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan

  • “We paid the performers one tanka, which is about eight cents, each.”

    The Mount Everest Expedition

  • “Sooner or later this crystallized into what is called a tanka or short ode.”

    Japanese Prints

  • “A tanka is a 31 syllable poem that pre-dates the Haiku.”

    BC Bloggers

  • “Yosano is the grandson of two famous poets of traditional "tanka" verse.”

    Turkish Press

  • “| + A '' tanka '' poem by {{nihongo | 一休宗純 | Ikkyuu Soujun |}} [mailto: mvallen@PRIMENET.COM Mark Vallen] in memoriam to Kondou's passing maboroshi to kiyu inazuma no kage no gotoku ni mi wa omou beshi!!”

    GhibliWiki - Recent changes [en]

  • “The Nobel-winning novelist Kenzaburo Oe has said that the modern Japanese prose of Tanizaki and Kawabata finds its roots in the ancient short verse of tanka and haiku—forms marked by brevity, elegance and highly refined naturalism.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Rebel Ascendant

  • “He has written a collection of Japanese tanka poems about his experience searching for his son and composed musical pieces, including a "requiem" performed by his wife, Mari, and dedicated to Yoichi.”

    The Wall Street Journal: Families Around the World Mourn Loved Ones

  • “We brought in the May and as we crowned each other we made the last line of the tanka into an improvised chant.”

    The Huffington Post: Elizabeth Cunningham: Celebrating Beltane: Courage in Hard Times

  • “I immediately fell in love with haiku and tanka and wrote them frequently, often in the margins of my notebooks when I should have been listening to the teacher.”

    Archive 2010-05-01

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hypernyms (4)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. picture
  1. painting
  1. poem
  1. verse form

reverse dictionary (2)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. Tan
  1. tankia

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‘tanka’ has been looked up 2713 times, added to 6 lists, and has a Scrabble score of 9.