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tanka.

A form of Japanese verse in five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 morae.

5 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun
  1. A form of Japanese verse in five lines of 5, 7, 5, 7, and 7 morae.

Where this word comes from

From Japanese 短歌 (tanka, “short song”), from Middle Chinese 短 (MC twanX) 歌 (MC ka) (compare Mandarin 短歌 (duǎngē) duǎngē).

noun
  1. Alternative form of Tanka (“an ethnic group of boat people living in China”).

    alt-of · alternative
  2. A kind of boat used in Guangdong, about 25 feet long and often rowed by Tanka women; junk.

Where this word comes from

See Tanka.

noun
  1. A coin and unit of currency of varying value, formerly used in parts of India and Central Asia.

    historical
Where this word comes from

Ultimately from Sanskrit टङ्क (ṭaṅka, “chisel; tanka”).

noun
  1. Alternative form of thangka (“Tibetan religious artwork”).

    alt-of · alternative
Where this word comes from

See thangka.

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tanka studiotanka workshello, tanka

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.