Taiko

//ˈtaɪkoʊ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A traditional drum, beaten by yobidashi to announce the beginning of a tournament, and at the end of each day
  2. 2
    The Chatham Island taiko (Pterodroma magentae).

    "The taiko, a gadfly petrel from the Chatham Islands near to New Zealand, was well known to islanders during the nineteenth century, being used by them as a food resource."

  3. 3
    A Japanese drum or a performance of several drummers in an ensemble (also called kumi-daiko).

Example

More examples

"There will be a Japanese tea room, an art gallery, a "flea" market — or a market that sells secondhand goods outdoors — and fun entertainment like taiko drumming, cosplay actors, samurai sword masters, J-rock bands, stand-up comics and dance parties, according to Time Out."

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese 太鼓 (たいこ taiko), from 太 (tʰàj, “great”) + 鼓 (kú, “drum”).

Related phrases

chatham island taikokumi daikopterodroma magentae

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.