lakou

See also: lākou

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Haitian Creole lakou, from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French la cour (“the courtyard”).

Noun

lakou (plural lakous)

1. In Haiti, a small village or other compound built around a shared yard, or the family structure of those living in such a settlement.
   • 1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, p. 77:

     “He promised to bring the president's wife to our lakou.”

   • 2000, Emily Wade Will, Haiti, p. 61:

     Within the lakou, homes consist of wood-framed huts with thatch or corrugated-iron roofs. Furniture is minimal — a few chairs, a table, and some woven mats on which to sleep.

   • 2013, Steven Holl, Pamphlet Architecture 31: New Haiti Villages, p. 10:

     A lakou is a community space composed of houses populated by several generations of one family, surrounded by a circular garden.

---

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French la cour (“courtyard”)

Noun

lakou

1. courtyard