poem

See also: poëm and põem

English

Alternative forms

• poëm (rare or archaic)
• poeme (rare or archaic)

Etymology

From Middle French poème, from Latin poēma, from Ancient Greek ποίημα (poíēma), from ποιέω (poiéō, “I make”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpəʊ̯ɪm/, [ˈpʰəʊ̯ɪm]

  • Audio (UK)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊ̯əm/, /poʊ̯m/, [ˈpʰo(ʊ̯)əm], [ˈpʰo(ʊ̯)m̩], [ˈpʰo(ʊ̯)m]
• (India) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊ̯ɪm/, [ˈpo(ʊ̯)ɪm]
• Rhymes: -əʊəm, -əʊm

Noun

poem (plural poems)

1. A literary piece written in verse.
   • 2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

     Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.

2. A piece of writing in the tradition of poetry, an instance of poetry.
3. A piece of poetic writing, that is with an intensity or depth of expression or inspiration greater than is usual in prose.

Holonyms

• poetry

Derived terms

Terms derived from poem

• echo poem
• prose poem

• shape poem
• visual poem

Related terms

• poet
• poetic
• poetics

Translations

literary piece written in verse

• Afrikaans: gedig n
• Albanian: poemë (sq) f
• Amharic: ግጥም (gəṭm)
• Arabic: قَصِيدَة‏‎ f (qaṣīda), شِعْر‏‎ (ar) m (šiʿr)
• Armenian: բանաստեղծություն (hy) (banastełcutʿyun), ոտանավոր (hy) (otanavor) (short), պոեմ (hy) (poem) (large)
• Asturian: poema m, poesía f
• Azeri: şeir, poema
• Bashkir: шиғыр (šiğïr)
• Belarusian: верш m (vjerš), паэ́ма f (paéma)
• Bengali: কবিতা (bn) (kôbita), পদ্য (pôdj)
• Bulgarian: стихотворе́ние (bg) n (stihotvorénie), пое́ма (bg) f (poéma)
• Burmese: ကဗျာ (my) (ka.bya)
• Catalan: poema (ca) m, poesia (ca) f, oda (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 詩, 诗 (si¹)

  Mandarin: 詩 (zh), 诗 (zh) (shī), 詩篇 (zh), 诗篇 (zh) (shīpiān), 詩歌 (zh), 诗歌 (zh) (shīgē)

• Czech: báseň (cs) f
• Danish: digt (da) n
• Dutch: gedicht (nl) n, vers (nl) n
• Estonian: luuletus, värss, poeem
• Faroese: kvæði n, ljóð n
• Finnish: runo (fi)
• French: poème (fr) m
• Galician: poema (gl) m, poesía (gl) f
• Georgian: ლექსი (leksi), პოემა (ṗoema), შაირი (šairi)
• German: Gedicht (de) n
• Greek: ποίημα (el) n (poíima)
• Hebrew: שִׁיר‏‎ (he) m (shir)
• Hindi: कविता (hi) f (kavitā), पद्य (hi) (padya)
• Hungarian: vers (hu)
• Icelandic: ljóð (is) n, kvæði (is) n, dikt n, vers n
• Ido: poemo (io)
• Ilocano: daniw
• Indonesian: syair (id)
• Irish: dán (ga) m
• Italian: poema (it) m, poesia (it) f
• Japanese: 詩 (ja) (し, shi), 詩歌 (ja) (しいか, shiika)
• Kazakh: өлең (kk) (öleñ), поэма (poéma), дастан (kk) (dastan)
• Khmer: កំណាព្យ (km) (kɑmnaap)
• Korean: 시 (ko) (si) (詩 (ko)), 시가 (ko) (siga)
• Kurdish:

  Kurmanji: helbest (ku)

• Kyrgyz: ыр (ky) (ır), казал (ky) (kazal), поэма (poema)
• Lao: ກາບກອນ (lo) (kāp kǭn), ກອນ (kǭn), ຄຳກອນ (kham kǭn), ກະວີນິພົນ (ka wī ni phon)
• Latin: fabula (la), carmen (la) n
• Latvian: dzejolis m, poēma f
• Lithuanian: eilėraštis m, poema (lt) f
• Luxembourgish: Gedicht
• Macedonian: пе́сна f (pésna)

• Malay: puisi, syair
• Malayalam: കവിത (ml) (kavita)
• Maltese: poeżija f
• Manchu: ᡳᡵᡤᡝᠪᡠᠨ (irgebun)
• Marathi: कविता f (kavitā), काव्य n (kāvya)
• Middle Persian: cagāmag
• Mongolian: шүлэг (mn) (šüleg)
• Norwegian: dikt (no), episk dikt
• Occitan: poèma
• Old Norse: kvæði n, ljóð n, dikt n, skáldskapr m
• Pashto: شعر‏‎ (ps) m (še'r)
• Persian: شعر‏‎ (fa) (še'r), چامه‏‎ (fa) (čâme)
• Polish: wiersz (pl) m, poemat (pl) m
• Portuguese: poema (pt) m, poesia (pt) f
• Quechua: harawi
• Romanian: poem (ro)
• Russian: стихотворе́ние (ru) n (stixotvorénije) (plural: стихи́ (ru) m pl (stixí)), стих (ru) m (stix), поэ́ма (ru) f (poéma) (larger poem)
• Sanskrit: काव्य (sa) n (kāvya), कविता (sa) f (kavitā)
• Scottish Gaelic: dàn m, duan m, òran m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: спев m, поема f, песма f, стихови m pl

  Roman: spev m, poema (sh) f, pesma (sh) f, stihovi m pl

• Sinhalese: කවිය (kaviya)
• Slovak: báseň f
• Slovene: pesem (sl) f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: baseń f

• Spanish: poema (es) m, poesía (es) f, oda (es) f
• Swahili: shairi (sw)
• Swedish: dikt (sv) c, poem (sv) n, skaldverk n
• Tagalog: tula
• Tajik: шеър (tg) (šeʾr)
• Tamil: கவிதை (ta) (kavitai)
• Tatar: шигырь (tt) (şigır’)
• Telugu: పద్యము (te) (padyamu), కవిత (te) (kavita)
• Thai: กลอน (th) (glɔɔn), บทกวี (bòt-gà-wii)
• Tibetan: སྙན་ངག (snyan ngag)
• Turkish: nazım (tr), şiir (tr), manzume (tr), koşuk (tr)
• Turkmen: şygyr, gosgy, poema
• Ukrainian: вірш m (virš), пое́ма f (poéma)
• Urdu: کوتا‏‎ f (kavitā), نظم‏‎
• Uyghur: شېئىر‏‎ (ug) (shë'ir)
• Uzbek: sheʻr, poema (uz)
• Vietnamese: bài thơ (vi), thơ (vi)
• Volapük: poedot (vo), (love) lelöfapoedot
• Welsh: cerdd (cy) f
• Yiddish: פּאָעמע‏‎ f (poeme), פּאָעם‏‎ m (poem), געדיכט‏‎ n (gedikht)
• Zhuang: sei

piece of writing in the tradition of poetry

• Azeri: şeir
• Bashkir: шиғыр (šiğïr)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 詩篇 (zh), 诗篇 (zh) (shīpiān)

• Czech: báseň (cs) f
• Danish: digt (da) n
• Dutch: gedicht (nl) n
• Esperanto: poemo
• Faroese: kvæði n, ljóð n
• Finnish: runo (fi)
• French: poème (fr) m
• German: Dichtung (de) f
• Greek: ποίημα (el) n (poíima)

  Ancient: ποίησις f (poíēsis)

• Icelandic: ljóð (is) n, kvæði (is) n, dikt n
• Ido: poemo (io)
• Indonesian: pantun (id)
• Italian: poema (it) m, poesia (it) f
• Japanese: 詩 (ja) (し, shi)
• Khmer: កំណាព្យ (km) (kɑmnaap)

• Latin: fabula (la)
• Maltese: poeżija f
• Norwegian: dikt (no)
• Old Norse: kvæði n, ljóð n, dikt n
• Polish: poezja (pl) f, wiersz (pl) f
• Portuguese: poema (pt) m, poesia (pt) f
• Russian: стихотворе́ние (ru) n (stixotvorénije) (plural: стихи́ (ru) m pl (stixí)), стих (ru) m (stix), поэ́ма (ru) f (poéma) (larger poem)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: стихотворство n, песништвo n, стихови m pl, поема f, пјесма f

  Roman: stihotvorstvo (sh) n, pesništvo (sh) n, stihovi m pl, poema (sh) f, pjesma (sh) f

• Slovene: pesem (sl) f, poezija f
• Spanish: poema (es) m
• Swahili: shairi (sw)
• Swedish: dikt (sv) c, poem (sv) n
• Tamil: கவிதை (ta) (kavitai)
• Telugu: పద్యం (te) (padyaṃ), కవిత (te) (kavita)
• Turkish: şiir (tr)
• Vietnamese: bài thơ (vi)

piece of poetic writing

• Albanian: poemë (sq)
• Azeri: şeir
• Bashkir: шиғыр (šiğïr)
• Czech: báseň (cs) f
• Danish: digt (da) n
• Dutch: gedicht (nl) n
• Finnish: runo (fi)
• French: poème (fr) m
• German: Gedicht (de) n
• Greek: ποίημα (el) n (poíima), ποίηση (el) f (poíisi)
• Hungarian: költemény (hu)
• Ido: poemo (io)
• Indonesian: puisi (id)
• Italian: poema (it) m, poesia (it) f
• Japanese: 詩的表現 (shiteki hyōgen)
• Javanese: geguritan (jv)
• Latin: fabula (la)

• Norwegian: dikt (no)
• Polish: poemat (pl) m, wiersz (pl) m
• Portuguese: poema (pt) m, poesia (pt) f
• Russian: стихотворе́ние (ru) n (stixotvorénije) (plural: стихи́ (ru) m pl (stixí)), стих (ru) m (stix), поэ́ма (ru) f (poéma) (larger poem)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: стихотворина m pl, поема f, песма f, стихови m pl

  Roman: stihotvorina m pl, poema (sh) f, pesma (sh) f, stihovi m pl

• Slovene: pesem (sl) f, poezija f
• Spanish: poema (es) m
• Swahili: ushairi (sw)
• Swedish: dikt (sv) c, poem (sv) n
• Tamil: கவிதை (ta) (kavitai)
• Telugu: పద్యం (te) (padyaṃ), కవిత (te) (kavita)
• Thai: กลอน (th) (glɔɔn)
• Turkish: şiir (tr)
• Vietnamese: bài thơ (vi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Albanian: ^{(please verify)} poemë
• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} اَلْقَصِيدَة‏‎ f (al-qaṣīda)
• Azeri: ^{(please verify)} poema
• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} поема (bg) (poema)
• Esperanto: ^{(please verify)} poemo
• Estonian: ^{(please verify)} luuletus
• Georgian: ^{(please verify)} ლექსი (leksi)
• Indonesian: ^{(please verify)} puisi (id)

• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 시 (ko) (si)
• Latvian: ^{(please verify)} poēma
• Lithuanian: ^{(please verify)} eilėraštis
• Persian: ^{(please verify)} چامه‏‎ (fa)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} poezie (ro)
• Slovak: ^{(please verify)} báseň
• Welsh: ^{(please verify)} caniad
• Yiddish: ^{(please verify)} ליד‏‎ n (lid)

Further reading

• poem in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• poem in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• poem at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• mope, pome

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Scots

Etymology

From Middle French poème, from Latin poēma, from Ancient Greek ποίημα (poíēma), from ποιέω (poiéō, “I make”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [pom], [poəm]

Noun

poem (plural poems)

1. poem

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Swedish

Etymology

From Middle French poème, from Latin poēma, from Ancient Greek ποίημα (poíēma), from ποιέω (poiéō, “I make”).

Noun

poem n

1. poem

Declension

Declension of poem

	singular		plural
Neuter	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	poem	poemet	poem	poemen
genitive	poems	poemets	poems	poemens

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Vilamovian

Noun

poem n

1. poem