waka

plural wakas

1. communicationsA 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

plural wakas

1. New ZealandA Maori canoe.First known use 19th c.
2. New ZealandA 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.)First known use 19th c.

   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

1. A female given name from Japanese.