Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Kayak |
KayakNoun1. A small canoe consisting of a light frame made watertight with animal skins; used by Eskimos. Verb1. Travel in a small canoe; "we kayaked down the river". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "kayak" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1813. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A kayak is a type of small human-powered boat. It was originally developed by the indigenous peoples of the Arctic regions of North America and Greenland commonly known as the Eskimo. The word "kayak" originally meant "man's boat". Construction originally was a wooden frame covered by an animal skin such as seal skin. These original kayaks were used to hunt on the open waters of the Arctic Ocean.A kayak is typically propelled with a double-ended paddle. The user or paddler sits down in the kayak with their feet forward. The top of the kayak is covered with a deck. The paddler sits in a hole in the cockpit which may be sealed off with a spray skirt (or spraydeck). This makes it possible that, should the kayak become inverted (capsize), the kayak will not fill with water, and the paddler, with skill, can right the kayak again without taking on water. This manoeuvre is known as an Eskimo Roll.
In modern times kayaks have been further developed into several types including: whitewater, sea kayaks, flat-water racing, polo-kayak and recreational. These types may also be subdivided. Modern kayaks are made of plastic, fiberglass, kevlar, or wood. They come in one and two person models. Recently some sit-on-top boats have been developed and also called kayaks and propelled with a double-ended paddle.
Folding kayaks
A special type of kayak is the folding kayak, the direct descendant of the original Eskimo kayak. A "folder" is a kayak that uses a collapsible frame, of wood, aluminum or plastic, or a combination thereof, and a skin, of some sort of water-resistant and tough fabric. Many types have integral air sponsons inside the hull, making the kayaks virtually unsinkable.
The classic manufacturer of the folding kayak is Klepper, a company in Rosenheim, Germany, which started manufacture of their "faltboot" in 1906. Their Aerius II model was introduced in 1951 and is still in production in 2003. In 1956 a Dr Lindemann crossed the Atlantic in a Klepper Aerius II, a proof of the folding kayak's integrity and seaworthiness!
There are about ten folding kayak manufactures today, mostly in the Western World.In Addition to Klepper the most well-known brands are Feathercraft, Folbot, Long Haul, Nautiraid and Pouch. Long Haul kayaks are virtually identical to Kleppers, so a Klepper frame can be used with a Long Haul skin, or vice versa.
Folders are known for their durability and longevity: The Klepper Aerius I (a single-seater) has been used successfully for white-water kayaking, due to its durability and excellent manouvrability, while many Kleppers have been in frequent use for more than 20 years.
Inflatable kayaks
Inflatable kayak
Another special type of kayak is the inflatable kayak. Inflatable kayaks usually can be transported by hand using a carry bag. They include one or more bladders that must be filled with air, either with a foot pump or air compressor. They often use a PVC tarpaulin as a shell.
Besides being portable, inflatable kayaks generally are stable and easy to master, but they take more effort to paddle and are slower than traditional kayaks.
See also: canoe
External link
- Kayakwiki, A wiki site devoted exclusively to kayaks and kayaking
- Folding Kayaks A non-commercial site devoted to folding kayaks
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Kayak."
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Ship | Catamaran, hydroplane, hovercraft,coracle, gondola, carvel, caravel; felucca, caique, canoe, birch bark canoe, dugout canoe; galley, galleyfoist; bilander, dogger, hooker, howker; argosy, carack; galliass, galleon; polacca, polacre, tartane, junk, lorcha, praam, proa, prahu, saick, sampan, xebec, dhow; dahabeah; nuggah; kayak, keel boat, log canoe, pirogue; |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Kayak |
| English words defined with "kayak": Kayaker. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Kayak" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. French (kayak), Italian (kayak), Spanish (kayak), Turkish (ski). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Movie/TV Titles | Tuktu and the Big Kayak (1967) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals |
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Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Kayak sunset along the Patuxent River. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Kayak Island - Cape St. Elias. Distant mountains are at least 60 miles off. Credit: America's Coastlines. |
 | Passing Kayak Island - Cape St. Elias. Credit: America's Coastlines. |  | Kayak and doryLower Salmon RiverCottonwood Field OfficeUCSCUpper Columbia Salmon Clearwater District. Credit: Karen Wattenmaker. |
 | Rogue River - Blosom Bar, BLM Kayak Patrol. Credit: Unknown. |  | USGS party and Boy in Kayak, Bethel, 1898. Credit: Alaska Historical Image Library. |
 | Eskimo boys on a kayak in Grantley Harbor. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Eskimo in kayak. Credit: Library of Congress. |
 | Turning a somersault in a kayak. Credit: Library of Congress. |  | Eskimo carrying kayak. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Kayak" by Alon Dav Commentary: "Men & kayak in denemark." | "Man in Kayak" by Thomas Istvan Seibel Commentary: "Man in kayak, off the coast of British Columbia." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| "Kayak" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 82.54% of the time. "Kayak" is used about 63 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 82.54% | 52 | 47,145 |
| Noun (proper) | 17.46% | 11 | 106,044 |
| Total | 100.00% | 63 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| Hypenated Usage | |
Ending with "kayak": Sea-kayak. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
kayak | 13,747 | sit and on and top and kayak | 174 |
sea kayak | 2,704 | kayak magazine | 168 |
kayak canoe | 1,216 | wilderness system kayak | 165 |
kayak equipment | 1,092 | kayak review | 163 |
kayak accessory | 1,063 | whitewater kayak | 138 |
kayak paddles | 958 | mainstream kayak | 125 |
perception kayak | 693 | kayak trailer | 123 |
ocean kayak | 651 | kayak rack | 115 |
inflatable kayak | 497 | kayak pelican | 115 |
kayak vacation | 475 | cobra kayak | 111 |
kayak gear | 443 | walden kayak | 101 |
used kayak | 425 | wilderness kayak | 100 |
fishing kayak | 379 | kayak sales | 88 |
kayak paddle | 351 | hobie kayak | 84 |
kayak pool | 340 | used kayak for sale | 76 |
dagger kayak | 320 | kayak kit | 75 |
kayak trip | 285 | riot kayak | 74 |
old town kayak | 262 | prijon kayak | 71 |
kayak sale | 247 | islander kayak | 69 |
necky kayak | 181 | current design kayak | 66 |
kayak rental | 66 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "kayak"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | kajak, kaike (caique, canoe, shell, skiff). (various references) | |
Arabic | كياك زورق جلدي, زورق قابل للنقل مكسو بالخشب. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | каяк. (various references) | |
Chinese | 舠 . (various references) | |
Czech | kajak. (various references) | |
Danish | kajak. (various references) | |
Dutch | kajak. (various references) | |
Farsi | قایق پاروءی اسکیموها. (various references) | |
French | kayak. (various references) | |
German | kajak. (various references) | |
Greek | καϊάκ, βάρκα από δέρμα, είδοσ ξύλινησ βάρκασ, δερμάτινη λέμβοσ των εσκιμόων. (various references) | |
Hebrew | קאיאק. (various references) | |
Hungarian | kajak. (various references) | |
Indonesian | sampan (boat, dinghy, gondola). (various references) | |
Italian | kayak. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | カポシ肉腫 (cam, camellia, camembert, cameo, camera, camera angle, camera position, camera rehearsal, camera reportage, camera work, camera-eye, cameraman, camomile, camouflage, CAMUS, chameleon, collar, collarless, color, color arrangement, color box, color combination, color conditioning, color coordinator, color display, color dynamics, color ink, color marking pen, color mechanical tint, color planning, color rinse, color screentone, color spraypaint, colored, colored steel sheet, colorless, colour, comeback, cummerbund, French cognac, kapok, Kaposi sarcoma, younger members of the group). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | カヤック . (various references) | |
Pig Latin | ayakkay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | caiaque. (various references) | |
Romanian | caiac. (various references) | |
Russian | каяк. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | kajak. (various references) | |
Spanish | kayak, kayac. (various references) | |
Swedish | kajak. (various references) | |
Thai | เรือแคนูที่ใช้แข่ง. (various references) | |
Turkish | kayık (bateau, boat, caique, glider, rowing boat, small craft, wherry), kano (canoe), kürek teknesi, eskimo kayığı. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | каяк, байдарка (canoe, paddle). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "kayak": kayaked, kayaker, kayakers, kayaking, kayakings, kayaks. (additional references) | |
| |
"Kayak" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: akaky, Akkaya, Akyab, Akyma, ayak, caya, crayak, Czyzk, kaa, kaak, kadai, kafan, kaiak, kaimak, Kaitaake, kaja, Kalak, Kanaky, kasak, Kataky, Kawak, kaya, kayac, kayack, Kayaky, kayat, kaye, Kaynak, kaytak, kayyal, keeyah, Kelynack, keya, Khadak, Khaya, Khayam, kiak, kiake, Kipak, Kiya, kiyak, Klymko, Knaak, Koryak, kraak, kyak, Mayak, Mayaka, mayaki, nayika, Rayak, Yayuk. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| Words rhyming with "kayak" (pronounced 'Kay"ak'): Arak. (additional references) |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-a-k-k-y" | |
-1 letter: kaka, kyak. | |
-2 letters: kay, yak. | |
-3 letters: aa, ay, ka, ya. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-a-k-k-y" | |
+1 letter: kayaks. | |
+2 letters: kayaked, kayaker. | |
+3 letters: kayakers, kayaking, kazatsky. | |
+4 letters: kayakings. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Expressions 10. Expressions: Internet 11. Translations: Modern 12. Derivations | 13. Rhymes 14. Anagrams 15. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
