noun, plural tan·kas, tan·ka. Prosody.
- a Japanese poem consisting of 31 syllables in 5 lines, with 5 syllables in the first and third lines and 7 in the others.
noun plural -kas or -ka
- a Japanese verse form consisting of five lines, the first and third having five syllables, the others seven
form of Japanese verse, from Japanese tanka, from tan “short” + ka “song.”