Note that in Te Reo Māori plurality is not indicated in the spelling. Plurality is indicated by the use of the plural article (e.g. “ngā”), plural pronouns and the dropping of “t” (e.g. ōku). In some words a macron may indicate a plural (e.g. tāngata, mātua). It is therefore necessary to determine whether singular or plural is intended by the sense of the sentence concerned.
Te Taura Whiri I Te Reo Māori (Māori Language Commission) has adopted the use of macrons to assist with pronunciation of words. The use of a macron indicates a long vowel sound. In some instances the macron may also indicate plurality.
Dialectical conventions apply in Te Reo Māori across different iwi.
In Tī Kōuka Whenua we have followed the convention adopted by Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. This means that the ‘ng’ form will be used throughout the text except for:
- Names of people, places, flora and fauna where the ‘k’ is the more commonly used format
- All words in glossary will show both the ‘ng’ and ‘k’ forms of the spelling.
Please refer to the Kōrero Maori website for assistance with pronunciation of Māori words on this website.
A
- ana= cave
- ariki = first born of a high ranking family, often bestowed with chiefly or priestly status
- aruhe = fernroot
- atua = god
- awa / aua = mullet
H
- haka = dance
- hākari = gift, present, feast
- hapū = sub tribe
- harakeke = flax
- heke = migration
- hīnaki = wicker eel pot
- hine = young girl
- horopito = pepper tree
I
- ika = fish
- inaka or inanga = whitebait
- iwi = tribe
K
- kahikatea = podocarpus excelsum, white pine
- kai = food
- kai huanga or kai huaka = eat relations
- kai moana = sea food
- kāika or kāinga = village
- kaikaranga or kaikaraka = caller
- kaikōmako = tree traditionally used for firemaking
- kaimahi = worker
- kākahi = freshwater mussel
- kākahu = clothing
- kanakana = lamprey
- kānuka = leptosperum ericodes, white mānuka
- karakia = prayer or chant
- kauati = block of wood that is rubbed to produce fire
- kaumātua = adult, elder
- kaurima = pointed rubbing stick used to produce fire
- kawa = protocols, ceremonies
- kererū = New Zealand wood pigeon
- kete = flax basket
- kiekie = a climbing plant
- kiore = rat
- kōau = shag
- kokopū = native trout
- kono = small basket for cooked food
- kōrari = flax stalks, flower of flax plant
- kōrau = root vegetable (turnip)
- koreke = native quail
- korowai = cloak
- koukoupara = cockabully
- kōura = freshwater crayfish
- kōuru = shoot
- kōwhaiwhai = painted scroll ornamentation
- kūmara = sweet potato
- kurī = dog
- kurīwarua = dogskin cape
M
- mahinga kai or mahika kai = food gathering area
- mākutu = bewitched, black magic
- mana = prestige, power
- Māoritanga or Māoritaka = things Māori
- marae or marae ātea = enclosed space in front of a house, courtyard, village common
- mataī = podocarpus spicatus, a tree
- mātaitai = reserve for fish or other foodstuffs obtained from sea or lake
- maunga or mauka = mountain
- mihimihi = greeting
- moa = extinct large bird
- mōkihi = raft
- mokopuna = grandchild
- muka / whītau = harakeke fibre
N
- Ngāti Māmoe or Kāti Māmoe= the main South Island tribe in residence prior to the advance of Ngāi Tahu
- Ngāi Tahu or Kāi Tahu = the dominant tribe in the South Island since about 1700
O
- oho = a species of rail
P
- pā = stockaded village
- Pākehā = A person of predominantly European descent
- pānako = a fern
- pāpaku = crab
- paraerae = harakeke sandals
- pare = carved slab over the door of a whare
- pārera = grey duck
- pārua = pit, depression, hollow
- pātiki = flounder
- patupaiarehe = fairy, nymph
- pia = gum
- pīngao = a now rare native grass used for weaving
- pioke = sand shark
- pipi = cockle
- piupiu = flax garment
- pōhata = root vegetable, turnip
- poho = bosom or seat of affections often used in a name – Te Poho o Tamatea
- poi = ball or swing out
- pouhake = ceremonial flagpole
- pounamu = greenstone
- poupou / pou = carved post
- pōwhiri = welcome, ceremony
- puna = spring
- pūtakitaki or pūtangitangi = paradise shelduck
R
- rangatira or rakatira = chief
- rangatiratanga or rakatirataka = chieftainship
- rangimārie = peace
- rāpaki = waist mat
- raranga = weaving
- raupō = native bullrush
- reo = language
- rito = young shoot
- rohe = boundary
- roto = lake
- rua = pit, hole
- rūnanga or rūnaka = council
T
- takiwā = district, space
- tāniko = ornamental border made from flax or other fibres
- tangata or takata = person
- tangihanga or takihaka = funeral
- taniwha = water monster
- taonga or taoka = treasured possession
- tapu = sacred
- tauranga or tauraka = landing place
- tekoteko = carved figure on the gable of the house, figurehead of a canoe
- Te Wai Pounamu = South Island (translates as The Greenstone Waters)
- Tī Kōuka = cabbage tree
- tihi = summit, top peak, point
- tikanga or tikaka = rule, plan, method, custom, habit
- tipuna / tīpuna = ancestor / plural form
- tohora = whale
- tohunga or tohuka = priest
- toitū = undisturbed, untouched
- tōtara = Podocarpus totara, a forest tree
- tūāhu = shrine
- tuere = blind eel
- tukutuku = ornamental woven lattice work between carvings
- tuna = eel
- tupuna / tūpuna = ancestor / plural form
- tūrangawaewae or tūrakawaewae = place to stand
- tutukiwi = an orchidaceous plant
U
- umu = earth oven
- upoko = head, upper part
- urupā = burial site
W
- wāhi tapu = sacred place
- waho = outpost
- wairua = spirit, spiritual
- wai tapu = water burial site
- waka = canoe
- wānanga or wānaka = forum, workshop
- Waitaha = an early tribe living in the South Island prior to Ngāti Māmoe and Ngāi Tahu
- Weka = woodhen
- whakairo = carving
- whaka or whanga = harbour
- whakapapa = genealogy, family tree
- whakataukī = proverb, saying
- whanau / whānau = family, extended family / plural form
- wharariki = phorium cookianum, a kind of New Zealand flax
- whāriki = mat
- whare = house
- wharenui = meeting house
- whare kai = dining room
- whare karakia = church
- whare tipuna = ancestral house, meeting house
- whare wānanga / wānaka = house of learning
- whenua = land
- whītau / muka = harakeke fibre
