poet

See also: Poet and poët

English

Alternative forms

• poët, poete, poëte (rare, archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English poete, from Old French poete, from Latin poēta (“poet, author”), from Ancient Greek ποιητής (poiētḗs, “creator, maker, author, poet”), from ποιέω (poiéō, “to make, compose”). Displaced native Old English sċop. Doublet of piyyut.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpəʊ.ɪt/, /ˈpəʊ.ət/, (uncommon) /ˈpɔː.ɪt/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpoʊ.ət/, /ˈpoʊ.ɪt/, [ˈpʰoʊ̯ɪ̈(ʔ)t̚]
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈpoː.ɪt/, /poː(ə)t/, /ˈpoː.ɛt/
• Rhymes: -əʊɪt, -əʊət, -əʊɛt, -ɔːɪt

Noun

poet (plural poets)

2. A person who writes poems.
3. A person with a creative or romantic imagination.

Hyponyms

• poetess (female, dated)
• versifier

Derived terms

• antipoet
• arch-poet
• be a poet and not know it
• concrete poet
• cyberpoet
• cyclic poet
• ecopoet
• I'm a poet and I didn't even know it
• Instapoet
• jazz poet
• Lake poet
• metapoet
• mythopoet
• nonpoet
• parcel-poet
• poetaster
• poet blouse
• poetcraft
• poetdom
• poetese
• poetesque
• poetess
• poetette
• poethood
• poetical
• poeticule
• poetise
• poetism
• poetist
• poetize
• poet laureate
• poetless
• poetlike
• poetling
• poetly
• poetolatry
• poetress
• poetship
• poet shirt
• poet sleeve
• poetwise
• pylon poet
• sacrificial poet
• slam poet

Translations

person who writes poems — see also vates

• Afrikaans: digter (af)
• Albanian: poet (sq) m
• Amharic: ገጣሚ (gäṭami)
• Arabic: شَاعِر m (šāʕir), شَاعِرَة f (šāʕira)

  Egyptian Arabic: شاعر m (šāʕer)

• Aramaic:

  Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: ܡܵܚܘܿܪܵܐ m (māḥōrā), ܡܵܚܘܿܪܬܵܐ f (māḥōrtā), ܡܵܫܘܿܚܵܐ m (māšōḥā), ܡܵܫܘܿܚܬܵܐ f (māšōḥtā)

• Armenian: պոետ (hy) (poet), բանաստեղծ (hy) (banasteġc), բանաստեղծուհի (hy) (banasteġcuhi) (female)
• Asturian: poeta m or f
• Azerbaijani: şair (az), şairə (female)
• Baluchi: شاہر (šáhar, šáhir), شاعر
• Bashkir: шағир (şağir), шағирә (şağirə) (female)
• Basque: olerkari, poeta
• Belarusian: паэ́т m (paét), паэтэ́са f (paetésa), паэ́тка f (paétka)
• Bengali: কবি (bn) (kobi), শায়ের (bn) (śaẏer)
• Bulgarian: пое́т (bg) m (poét), поете́са f (poetésa)
• Burmese: ကဗျာဆရာ (my) (ka.byahca.ra), စာဆို (my) (cahcui), ကဝိ (my) (ka.wi.)
• Carpathian Rusyn: пое́т m (poét)
• Catalan: poeta (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 詩人 / 诗人 (si¹ jan⁴)

  Dungan: сыжын (sɨřɨn)

  Hokkien: 詩人 / 诗人 (zh-min-nan) (si-lîn / si-jîn)

  Mandarin: 詩人 / 诗人 (zh) (shīrén)

• Czech: básník (cs) m, básnířka (cs) f, poeta (cs) m, poetka (cs) f
• Danish: digter (da) c, digterinde c (female)
• Dutch: dichter (nl) m, poëet (nl) m, dichteres (nl) f, poëte f
• Esperanto: poeto
• Estonian: luuletaja (et)
• Extremaduran: pueta
• Faroese: yrkjari m, skald n, rímari m
• Finnish: runoilija (fi)
• French: poète (fr) m, poétesse (fr) f (the feminine form is dated)
• Galician: poeta (gl) m or f
• Georgian: პოეტი (ṗoeṭi)
• German: Dichter (de) m, Dichterin (de) f; (formal) Poet (de) m, Poetin (de) f

  Bavarian: Schriftstölarin

• Greek: ποιητής (el) m (poiitís), ποιήτρια (el) f (poiítria)

  Ancient Greek: ποιητής m (poiētḗs), ποιήτρια f (poiḗtria)

• Gujarati: કવિ m (kavi)
• Haitian Creole: powèt
• Hebrew: פַּיטָן \ פייטן m (paytán), מְשׁוֹרֵר (he) m (meshorér)
• Hindi: कवि (hi) m (kavi), कवयित्री f (kavyitrī), शायर (hi) m (śāyar), शायरा f (śāyrā)
• Hungarian: költő (hu), poéta (hu)
• Icelandic: skáld (is) n, ljóðskáld n
• Ido: poeto (io)
• Ilocano: mannaniw
• Indonesian: penyair (id), pujangga (id)
• Irish: file (ga) m, bard m
• Italian: poeta (it) m, poetessa (it) f
• Japanese: 詩人 (ja) (しじん, shijin)
• Kannada: ಕವಿ (kn) (kavi)
• Kazakh: ақын (kk) (aqyn)
• Khmer: កវី (km) (kaʼvəy)
• Korean: 시인(詩人) (ko) (siin)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: بوێژ (bwêj)

  Northern Kurdish: helbestvan (ku) m or f, şaîr (ku) m

• Kyrgyz: акын (ky) (akın)
• Lao: ກະວີ (lo) (ka wī), ນັກແຕ່ງກາບກອນ (nak tǣng kāp kǭn)
• Latgalian: poets m, ailinīks m
• Latin: poēta m, poētria f
• Latvian: dzejnieks m, dzejniece f
• Lithuanian: poetas m, poetė f, (literature, poetic) poeta
• Macedonian: поет m (poet)
• Malay: penyair
• Malayalam: കവി (ml) (kavi)
• Maltese: poeta m, poetessa f
• Māori: kaitito toikupu
• Marathi: कवी m (kavī), कवयित्री f (kavyitrī)
• Middle English: poete
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: шүлэгч (mn) (šülegč)

  Mongolian script: ᠰᠢᠯᠦᠭᠴᠢ (silüɣči)

• Nepali: कवि (ne) (kavi)
• Norman: poète m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: poet m, dikter (no) m, poetinne f

  Nynorsk: poet m, diktar m

• Occitan: poèta (oc) m, poetessa f
• Odia: କବି (or) (kabi)
• Old English: sċop m
• Ossetian: поэт (poèt)
• Pali: kavi m
• Pashto: شاعر (ps) m (šā'ér)
• Persian:

  Dari: شَاعِر (šā'ir), شَاعِرَه (šā'ira)

  Iranian Persian: شاعِر (šâ'er), شاعِرِه (šâ'ere) (female)

• Polish: poeta (pl) m, poetka (pl) f
• Portuguese: poeta (pt) m, poetisa (pt) f
• Punjabi:

  Gurmukhi: ਕਵੀ m (kavī)

• Romanian: poet (ro) m, poetă (ro) f
• Russian: поэ́т (ru) m (poét), поэте́сса (ru) f (poetɛ́ssa)
• Samogitian: puoets m, puoetė f
• Sanskrit: कवि (sa) m (kavi), काव्यम् (sa) m (kāvyam)
• Scottish Gaelic: bàrd m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пе̏снӣк m, пје̏снӣк m, пе̏сникиња f, пје̏сникиња f

  Latin: pȅsnīk m, pjȅsnīk (sh) m, pȅsnikinja f, pjȅsnikinja (sh) f

• Sicilian: pueta (scn)
• Sikkimese: སྙན་ངག་མཁན (snyan ngag mkhan)
• Sinhalese: කවියා (kawiyā)
• Slovak: básnik m, básnička f, poeta (sk) m, poetka f
• Slovene: pesnik (sl) m, pesnica f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: basnik m

• Southern Altai: ӱлгерчи (ülgerči)
• Spanish: poeta (es) m or f, poetisa (es) f, lirófono m
• Swahili: mshairi (sw)
• Swedish: poet (sv) c, poetissa (sv) c (female)
• Tagalog: makata, manunula
• Tajik: шоир (tg) (šoyir), шоира (tg) (šoyira) (female), шеърнавис (še'rnavis), нозим (nozim)
• Tamil: கவிஞர் (ta) (kaviñar)
• Tarifit: amedyaz m
• Tatar: шагыйрь (tt) (şağir)
• Telugu: కవి (te) m (kavi), కవయిత్రి (te) f (kavayitri)
• Thai: กวี (th) (gà-wii)
• Tibetan: སྙན་ངག་མཁན (snyan ngag mkhan)
• Tigrinya: ገጣሚ (gäṭami)
• Turkish: şair (tr), ozan (tr), şaire (tr) (female)
• Turkmen: şahyr, kyssachy
• Ukrainian: пое́т (uk) m (poét), поете́са f (poetésa), пое́тка f (poétka)
• Urdu: شاعِر (ur) m (śā'ir), شاعِرَہ f (śā'ira) (female)
• Uyghur: شائىر (sha'ir), شائىرە (sha'ire) (female)
• Uzbek: shoir (uz), shoira (uz) (female)
• Vietnamese: thi sĩ (vi), nhà thơ (vi)
• Volapük: (♂♀) poedan (vo), (♂) hipoedan, (♀) jipoedan
• Welsh: bardd (cy) m
• Yiddish: דיכטער m (dikhter), פּאָעט m (poet)

Further reading

• “poet, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “poet, n.”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, pages 4580–4581.
• “poet, n.”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1914), “poet, n.”, in The Century Dictionary: An Encyclopedic Lexicon of the English Language, revised edition, volume IV, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 4580, column 3.
• “poet”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• -tope, Pote, Tope, pote, tope

Danish

Etymology

From German Poet, from Latin poēta, from Ancient Greek ποιητής (poiētḗs).

Noun

poet c (singular definite poeten, plural indefinite poeter)

1. (higher register or humorous) poet

   Synonyms: digter, lyriker

   Coordinate term: skjald

Declension

Declension of poet

common gender	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	poet	poeten	poeter	poeterne
genitive	poets	poetens	poeters	poeternes

References

• “poet” in Den Danske Ordbog

Dutch

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /put/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ut

Noun

poet m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. (originally Bargoens) loot, stolen money or goods
2. (informal) money

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:geld

Anagrams

• pote, toep

Middle English

Noun

poet

1. alternative form of poete

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ποιητής (poiētḗs), via Latin poēta.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /poˈeːt/
• IPA^(key): /puˈeːt/

Noun

poet m (definite singular poeten, indefinite plural poeter, definite plural poetene)

1. a poet

Synonyms

• dikter

Related terms

• poesi

References

• “poet” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ποιητής (poiētḗs), via Latin poēta.

Noun

poet m (definite singular poeten, indefinite plural poetar, definite plural poetane)

1. a poet

Synonyms

• diktar

Related terms

• poesi

References

• “poet” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Old French

Verb

poet

1. third-person singular present indicative of poeir

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French poète, itself from Latin poēta. Compare Aromanian puet.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /poˈet/

Noun

poet m (plural poeți, feminine equivalent poetă or poetesă)

1. poet

   Synonym: (obsolete) șair

   Mare poet național. ― Great national poet.

2. (figurative) poet (person with a creative or romantic imagination)

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	poet	poetul		poeți	poeții
genitive-dative	poet	poetului		poeți	poeților
vocative	poetule			poeților

Related terms

• poetesă (“poetess”)
• poezie (“poetry”)
• poetic (“poetic”)

References

• “poet”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2026

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

poet c

1. a poet

Declension

Declension of poet

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	poet	poets
	definite	poeten	poetens
plural	indefinite	poeter	poeters
	definite	poeterna	poeternas

Synonyms

• diktare
• lyriker
• rimsmed
• (higher register) skald

Related terms

• poem
• poesi
• poetisk

References

• “poet”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)
• “poet”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• “poet”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)