haikai
Americannoun
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an informal type of linked verse originated by Bashō, a 17th-century Japanese poet.
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a poem of this type.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of haikai
First recorded in 1880–85; from Japanese haikai (no renga) “jesting (linked verse),” from hai “actor” (akin to Cantonese paai, Korean bae, Mandarin pái ) + kai “harmony” (akin to Cantonese haai, Korean hae, Mandarin xié )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Matsuo Basho Was the father of the haikai and the hokku, and his mantle descended upon Kikaku, Ransetsu, Kyoriku, and other celebrities.
From A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era by Brinkley, F. (Frank)
This now found a substitute in the haikai, which admitted language taken from purely Japanese sources and could thus be produced without any exercise of special scholarship.
From A History of the Japanese People From the Earliest Times to the End of the Meiji Era by Brinkley, F. (Frank)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
