Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A Japanese lyric verse form having three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five morae, traditionally invoking an aspect of nature or the seasons.
  • noun A verse form in another language modeled on the Japanese haiku, typically counting syllables instead of morae.
  • noun A poem written in this form.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A Japanese poem of a specific form, consisting of three lines, the first and last consisting of five morae, and the second consisting of seven morae, usually with an emphasis on the season or a naturalistic theme.
  • noun A three-line poem in any language, with five syllables in the first and last lines and seven syllables in the second, usually with an emphasis on the season or a naturalistic theme.
  • noun Plural form of haiku.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an epigrammatic Japanese verse form of three short lines

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Japanese : hai, amusement (from Middle Chinese pɦaʽj) + ku, phrase (from Middle Chinese kyə̆`, sentence; also the source of Mandarin ).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Japanese 俳句 (はいく, haiku).

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Examples

  • For our purpose, the use of the term haiku will imply the three-line, five / seven / five syllabic pattern common to this form of Japanese poem.

    unknown title 2009

  • For our purpose, the use of the term haiku will imply the three-line, five / seven / five syllabic pattern common to this form of Japanese poem.

    unknown title 2009

  • For our purpose, the use of the term haiku will imply the three-line, five / seven / five syllabic pattern common to this form of Japanese poem.

    unknown title 2009

  • For our purpose, the use of the term haiku will imply the three-line, five / seven / five syllabic pattern common to this form of Japanese poem.

    unknown title 2009

  • The first movement sets 8 of Ashbery's "37 Haiku" — after a swooping-down glissando opening, each haiku is declaimed by a solo singer while the rest accompany on "ahs" and "oohs" derived from the word haiku itself.

    Archive 2008-07-01 Matthew Guerrieri 2008

  • The first movement sets 8 of Ashbery's "37 Haiku" — after a swooping-down glissando opening, each haiku is declaimed by a solo singer while the rest accompany on "ahs" and "oohs" derived from the word haiku itself.

    Magna Carter (5): Role modeling Matthew Guerrieri 2008

  • This collection is actually a reprint of an anthology first published for Acorn Books, an independent publisher that specialises in haiku and minimalist poetry: an appropriate home for Mills's brevity.

    Screwtop Thompson by Magnus Mills – review Alice Fisher 2010

  • Today it is like answering an interview question in haiku and thus allows those who have superior communication skills to succeed.

    Confucianism vs. Irrational Voters, Arnold Kling | EconLog | Library of Economics and Liberty 2009

  • One may enter as many times as a haiku is written for southern books read this summer.

    Haiku Review Time ____Maggie 2009

  • Will probably write about the movie later (and not in haiku form as I think I have lots to say, just gotta let it gather in my mind for a few days, y'know).

    Books in 2009, #10 pabba 2009

Comments

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  • Ah, sweet sunset glow

    Softly, softly fading low

    But oh! the bright moon

    December 24, 2006

  • Ukiah in reverse.

    July 22, 2007

  • You might be surprised

    How well life can be condensed

    Into a haiku.

    January 24, 2008

  • Especially if

    You're unusually fond

    Of steroidal dimes.

    January 24, 2008

  • Haiku a bitter duck might write.

    August 26, 2008

  • Clowns are raining down.

    Hear the scream of the grease paint!

    Danger! Clown puddles.

    March 8, 2009

  • In the 7th grade, we did haiku poems in class one day and I can still remember exactly what I wrote:

    "One crystal tear falls

    Followed by warm summer's mist

    Sunshine dries my hate"

    June 23, 2009

  • Brava.

    June 23, 2009

  • There was an old man

    From Peru, whose lim'ricks all

    Look'd like haiku. He

    Said with a laugh "I

    Cut them in half, the pay is

    Much better for two."

    - anon.

    September 27, 2009