What does haiku mean?
Word: Haiku
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Haiku means a short poem written in a form that began in Japan.
How do you spell haiku?
Syllables: hai - ku
Tricky part: The word ends in a plain u, though it is said like oo; haikoo is a common slip.
Watch out for: haikoo, haikue
Memory tip: Like sudoku, another word that came from Japanese, haiku ends with a single u and nothing after it.
Haiku in a sentence
Example 1: Our English teacher asked us to write a haiku about the smell of rain on dry earth.
Example 2: Kabir counted the syllables on his fingers as he wrote his first haiku.
Example 3: The library's poetry wall is covered in haiku written by Class 7.
Fun Fact
Traditional haiku often include a season word, called a kigo, that quietly tells the reader the time of year.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
One word in the list is misspelt. Choose what that word means.
1. lyric 2. ballad 3. hiaku 4. sonnet
a) a poem of fourteen lines with a set rhyme pattern
b) a poem or song that tells a story in short verses
c) a short poem with a fixed count of syllables in each line
d) a short poem that expresses the poet's own feelings
Show answer
c) a short poem with a fixed count of syllables in each line. In haiku the a comes before the i, which makes hiaku the odd one out.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
During the nature walk, each of us wrote a kuiha about the falling leaves.
a) khaki
b) hiker
c) husky
d) haiku
Show answer
d) haiku. With no e or s the jumble cannot be hiker or husky, and its one k rules out khaki.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
haikku
a) u
b) a
c) k
d) h
Show answer
c) k. Haiku has a single k between the i and the u.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
For her poetry project, Anika wrote a haiku about a quiet village pond and painted a peacok dancing in the courtyard beside it.
a) peacok
b) haiku
c) project
d) courtyard
Show answer
a) peacok. The bird's name ends with ck, as clock does.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. How many lines does a traditional haiku have?
a) three
b) fourteen
c) five
d) four
Show answer
a) three
2. A poet writing a traditional haiku is most likely to describe ____.
a) the rules of a sport
b) the plot of a long novel
c) a single moment in nature
d) the history of a family
Show answer
c) a single moment in nature
