lakou

From Haitian Creole lakou, from French la cour (“the courtyard”).

lakou (plural lakous)

1. In Haiti, a small village or other compound built around a shared yard, or the family structure of those living in such a settlement.
   • 1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 77:

     “He promised to bring the president's wife to our lakou.”

   • 2000, Emily Wade Will, Haiti, page 61:

     Within the lakou, homes consist of wood-framed huts with thatch or corrugated-iron roofs. Furniture is minimal — a few chairs, a table, and some woven mats on which to sleep.

   • 2013, Steven Holl, Pamphlet Architecture 31: New Haiti Villages, page 10:

     A lakou is a community space composed of houses populated by several generations of one family, surrounded by a circular garden.

From French la cour (“courtyard”).

• IPA^(key): /laku/

lakou

1. courtyard, yard