New Zealand Maori-English Glossary

ao: cloud
Aotearoa: Maori name for New Zealand
e noho ra: goodbye (said by the person leaving)
haere mai: welcome
haere ra: goodbye, farewell (said by the person staying)
haka: war dance
hangi: underground Maori oven; also the meal cooked in said oven
hapu: regional community
hoa: friend
hongi: “sharing of breath”; Maori welcome expressed by touching together of noses
iwi: tribe, people, nation
ka pai: thank you; excellent
kai: food
kei te pehea koe: how are you? (singular)
kia ora: hello; health; luck
koe: you (singular)
koutou: you (plural)
kumara: sweet potato
mana: prestige, power
manaia: bird men
Maoritanga: Maori culture
marae: meeting place; sacred ground
moana: sea, lake
moko: traditional facial tattoo
motu: island
ngai, ngati: prefix indicating tribe, people, or clan
noa: counterpart to tapu
ora: life; alive, healthy, safe
pa: fortified Maori village
Pakeha: person of European descent; foreigner
patu: club (weapon)
poi: dance involving twirling balls on the ends of strings
pounamu: greenstone
powhiri: formal welcome
roto: lake
tane: man
tangata: humans, people
tangata whenua: “people of the land”; local Maori people
tapu: taboo, holy
tena-koe: hello (singular)
tukutuku: woven reed panels frequently found in marae
tupuna: ancestors
waka: canoe
whaikorero: welcome speech
whanga: bay, body of water
whanau: family
whare: house
whenua: ground, land

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