The Traveling Salesman Problem is a pertinent koan among computer scientists.
Source: tatoeba (6907551)
Koan
//ˈkoʊ.ɑn//
Synonyms for "koan" (1 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (1)
Noun(1 words)
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
1 entriesderived
2 entrieshas context
2 entriesis a
1 entriesrelated to
14 entriesTranslations
18 translations across 14 languages.
Chinese
1 entries- 公案 noun (zen story)
Chinese Mandarin
1 entries- 公案 noun (zen story)
Finnish
3 entries- aporia noun (riddle without solution)
- kōan noun (zen story)
- kōan noun (riddle without solution)
French
1 entries- aporie noun (riddle without solution)
German
1 entries- Koan noun (zen story)
Hungarian
2 entries- koan noun (zen story)
- koan noun (riddle without solution)
Irish
1 entries- cóán noun (zen story)
Italian
1 entries- aporia noun (riddle without solution)
Japanese
1 entries- 公案 noun (zen story)
Korean
1 entries- 화두 noun (zen story)
Polish
2 entries- koan noun (zen story)
- koan noun (riddle without solution)
Russian
1 entries- коа́н noun (zen story)
Spanish
1 entries- aporía noun (riddle without solution)
Vietnamese
1 entries- công án noun (zen story)
Sample sentences
4 total sentences available.
Zen, with its absurdist koan, laughs at life much the way the Marx brothers did. What exactly can you make of a philosophical system whose teacher answers the question, "How do you see things so clearly?" with the seeming one-liner, "I close my eyes"?
Source: wiktionary
Gibberish. Or else a koan that Achtfaden isn’t equipped to master, a transcendent puzzle that could lead him to some moment of light.
Source: wiktionary
As always the koan “Why, Why am I here, why here” begins in her head, but she beats it back like a housewife with a broom.
Source: wiktionary
Keep exploring
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.