waka meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

waka

noun

Etymology Borrowed from Japanese 和歌 (waka), from Middle Chinese 和 (ɣwa), a gloss for 倭 (ʔwa, “Japan”) + 歌 (ka, “song”).

Communications, Journalism, Literature, Media, Poetry, Publishing, Writing A kind of classical Japanese poem.

“Hey, look. There's one of those Jap waka poems on the back of this cigarette package.”1962, Philip K. Dick, “The Man in the High Castle”, in Four Novels of the 1960s, Library of America, published 2007, page 122:

waka

noun

UK /ˈwakə/ · NZ /ˈwʌkʌ/

Etymology Borrowed from Māori waka.

New Zealand A Maori canoe.

New Zealand A broad Maori community consisting of numerous Maori tribes, all sharing common ancestors thought to have come to New Zealand in a particular canoe. (A waka is divided into several iwi.)

On occasion this orientation would extend to wider tribal units […] or even to waka federations such as Tainui, Te Arawa or Mataatua.2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 235:

Derived terms: waka-jumper, waka-jumping
Related terms: waka gashira