haiku

Borrowed from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku), from Middle Chinese 俳 (beaj, “paralleled [writing]”) + 句 (kɨo^H, “line”).

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhaɪkuː/
• (US) IPA^(key): /haɪˈku/, /ˈhaɪku/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪkuː, -uː

haiku (plural haiku or haikus)

1. A Japanese poem in 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.
   • 2009 January 25, Colin Moynihan, “A Project Documents Inauguration Day, in Washington and Across the Globe”, in The New York Times‎^[2], archived from the original on 26 November 2022:

     Some of the results resemble haikus.

2. 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.

   Haiku, a poem

   five beats, then seven, then five

   ends as it began.

• hokku

• haikai

• senryū: a short humorous poem similar to the haiku

• Ukiah

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

haiku

1. a haiku

From English haiku, from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku), from Middle Chinese 俳 (bˠɛi, “paralleled [writing]”) + 句 (kɨo^H, “line”).

haiku

1. a haiku

• kuhai

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑi̯ku/, [ˈhɑ̝i̯ku]
• Rhymes: -ɑiku
• Syllabification^(key): hai‧ku
• Hyphenation^(key): hai‧ku

From dialectal haika +‎ -u, from Proto-Finnic *haika, from Proto-Finno-Permic *šajka; cognates include Estonian haige (~ haikea) and Lule Sami suoikē.

haiku

1. (usually in the plural) puff, whiff (act of inhaling tobacco smoke)
2. puff, whiff, puff of smoke, whiff of smoke (small quantity of smoke in the air)

   Ilmassa on vähän haikua.

   There's a whiff of smoke in the air.

3. (poetic) smoke

   Tänne ihminen katoaa huomaamattomaksi, kuin tuo nuotion mitätön haiku iltataivaalle.

   Here a man vanishes into nothingness, like that tiny strand of smoke from the campfire to the evening sky.

• savu, savut

• haikea

• “1. haiku”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[3] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 1 July 2023

Borrowed from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku).

haiku

1. A haiku (type of Japanese poem; any poem written in haiku style).

• “2. haiku”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[4] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 1 July 2023

• hauki, hiuka, kuhia, uhkia

haiku m (plural haikus)

1. alternative spelling of haïku

From Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku).

• IPA^(key): [ˈhɒjiku]
• Hyphenation: ha‧i‧ku
• Rhymes: -ku

haiku (plural haikuk)

1. haiku (a Japanese form of poetry consisting of seventeen syllables: five for the first line, seven for the second, and five for the third)

Borrowed from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku), from Middle Chinese 俳 (bˠɛi, “paralleled [writing]”) + 句 (kɨo^H, “line”).

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /ˈhai̯ku/ [ˈhai̯.ku]
• Rhymes: -ai̯ku
• Syllabification: hai‧ku

haiku (plural haiku-haiku)

1. haiku

• “haiku”, in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia [Great Dictionary of the Indonesian Language] (in Indonesian), Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016

Borrowed from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku).

• IPA^(key): /ajˈku/^*
• Rhymes: -u

haiku m (invariable)

1. haiku

haiku

1. Rōmaji transcription of はいく
2. Rōmaji transcription of ハイク

Ultimately borrowed from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku).

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɪ̯.kʉ/

haiku m or n (definite singular haikuen or haikuet, indefinite plural haiku, definite plural haikuene)

1. (poetry) a haiku
   • 1999 May 10, Klassekampen, page 15:

     Det opprinnelige haikuet er japansk

     The original haiku is Japanese

Ultimately borrowed from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku).

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɑɪ̯.kʉ/

haiku m or n (definite singular haikuen or haikuet, indefinite plural haikuar or haiku, definite plural haikuane or haikua)

1. (poetry) a haiku
   • 2000 April 3, Klassekampen, page 14:

     der finst ikkje så mange ord i eit haiku

     there aren't that many words in a haiku

   • 1998, Hadle Oftedal Andersen, editor, Poesiens pil, [Oslo]: Cappelen, page 170:

     Paal-Helge Haugen sette om japanske haikuar til norsk[.]

     Paal-Helge Haugen translated Japanese haikus into Norwegian.

• IPA^(key): /xaˈi.ku/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -iku
• Syllabification: ha‧i‧ku

Borrowed from Japanese 俳句.^[1][2]

haiku n (indeclinable)

1. (poetry) haiku (Japanese poem in 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)
2. (poetry) haiku (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)

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

haiku m inan

1. genitive singular of haik

• haiku in Polish dictionaries at PWN
• haiku in PWN's encyclopedia

haiku m (plural haikus)

1. (poetry) haiku (type of poem used in Japanese poetry)

• “haiku”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Borrowed from French haïku, from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku).

haiku n (plural haikuuri)

1. haiku

• haikú

Borrowed from English haiku, from Japanese 俳(はい)句(く) (haiku).

• IPA^(key): /ˈaiku/ [ˈai̯.ku]
  • Syllabification: hai‧ku
• IPA^(key): /ˈxaiku/ [ˈxai̯.ku]
• Rhymes: -aiku

haiku m (plural haikus)

1. haiku

• “haiku”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025