tanka

IPA/ˈtæŋ.kə/
IPA/ˈtæŋ.kə/

tanka — noun

  • tankasingular
  • tankasplural

1. a poem from Japan written in five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 sound pattern, giving 3

1.nounC1
Definition

a poem from Japan written in five lines with a 5-7-5-7-7 sound pattern, giving 31 syllables altogether.

Example

Min wrote a tanka about spring rain for the school magazine.

write a tanka about + topic

Our teacher read a tanka aloud before the class began.

read a tanka aloud

Common collocations
  • write a tanka
  • read a tanka aloud
  • a love tanka
  • a tanka contest
Synonyms
  • waka

    broader historical label that includes tanka as one common form

  • verse

    much broader word for a piece of poetry, not this exact Japanese pattern

Grammar Patterns

write a tanka

read a tanka aloud

a tanka about + topic

Usage Note

Usually names one complete poem or the form itself. Teachers and critics often mention the 5-7-5-7-7 pattern when explaining this sense.

Common Mistakes

The poem was written in tanka.
The poem was a tanka.
tanka names the poem form itself, not the language used to write it.

2. a sacred picture from Tibet, often painted on cloth for Buddhist prayer, teachin

2.nounC2
Definition

a sacred picture from Tibet, often painted on cloth for Buddhist prayer, teaching, or display.

Example

The museum borrowed a tanka from a monastery in Nepal.

borrow a tanka from + place

Visitors stood quietly before the tanka beside the prayer drums.

Common collocations
  • paint a tanka
  • display a tanka
  • a silk tanka
  • a Buddhist tanka
Synonyms
  • thangka

    more common English spelling for the same Tibetan painting tradition

  • scroll painting

    descriptive phrase, but less specific than the cultural term tanka

Grammar Patterns

display a tanka

paint a tanka

a tanka from + place

Usage Note

Often appears in museum, art-history, or Buddhist contexts. English also commonly spells this sense thangka, especially in specialist writing.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

A tanka is a specific Japanese poem form, so it is much narrower than poem or verse, which can describe almost any kind of poetry. Compared with a haiku, a tanka is longer and usually has five lines instead of three, giving the writer more room for feeling or reflection. A sonnet is also a fixed form, but it belongs to a European tradition and is much longer than a tanka. Use tanka when the Japanese five-line pattern matters. Use poem or verse when the exact form is not important.

poem ↗haiku ↗sonnet ↗verse ↗

Etymology

JapaneseTibetanEnglish

The poetry sense comes from Japanese tanka, literally meaning a short song. In English, the art sense is also used as a spelling of thangka, a Tibetan religious painting on cloth.

First known use

1877

1877, in the meaning defined above