Words+to+learn

Our Maori Words The marae Concepts People and their groups Components of place names Ordinary geographical features such as hills, rivers, cliffs, streams, mountains, the coast and adjectives describing them, such as small, big, little and long, are to be found in many place names. Here is a list so you can recognise them: Greetings Body parts
 * Hui a meeting of any kind, conference, gathering
 * Marae the area for formal discourse in front of a meeting house or applied to a whole marae complex, including meeting house, dining hall, forecourt, etc.
 * Haere mai! Welcome! Enter!
 * Nau mai! Welcome!
 * Tangi short (verbal version) for the above (gerund) or to cry, to mourn
 * Karanga the ceremony of calling to the guests to welcome them to enter the marae
 * Manuhiri guests, visitors
 * Tangata whenua original people belonging to a place, local people, hosts
 * Whaikōrero the art and practise of speech making
 * Kaikōrero or kaiwhai kōrero speaker (there are many other terms)
 * Haka chant with dance for the purpose of challenge;
 * Waiata song or chant which follows speech
 * Koha gift, present (usually money, can be food or precious items, given by guest to hosts)
 * Whare nui meeting house; in writing this is sometimes run together as one word – wharenui
 * Whare whakairo carved meeting house
 * Whare kai dining hall
 * <span class="wiki_link_ext">Whare paku lavatory, toilet
 * [|Aroha] compassion, tenderness, sustaining love
 * [|Mana] authority, power; secondary meaning: reputation, influence
 * [|Manaakitanga] respect for hosts or kindness to guests, to entertain, to look after
 * [|Mauri] hidden essential life force or a symbol of this
 * [|Noa] safe from tapu (see below), non-sacred, not tabooed
 * [|Raupatu] confiscate, take by force
 * [|Rohe] boundary, a territory (either geographical or spiritual) of an iwi or hapū
 * [|Taihoa] to delay, to wait, to hold off to allow maturation of plans, etc.
 * [|Tapu] sacred, not to be touched, to be avoided because sacred, taboo
 * [|Tiaki] to care for, look after, guard (kaitiaki – guardian, trustee)
 * [|Taonga] treasured possessions or cultural items, anything precious
 * [|Tino rangatiratanga] the highest possible independent chiefly authority, paramount authority, sometimes used for sovereignty
 * [|Tūrangawaewae] a place to stand, a place to belong to, a seat or location of identity
 * [|Wehi] to be held in awe
 * [|Whakapapa] genealogy, to recite genealogy, to establish kin connections
 * [|Whenua] land, homeland, country; also afterbirth, placenta
 * [|Ariki] person of high inherited rank from senior lines of descent, male or female
 * [|Hapū] clan, tribe, independent section of a people; modern usage – sub-tribe; to be born
 * [|Iwi] people, nation; modern usage – tribe; bones
 * [|Kaumātua] elder or elders, senior people in a kin group
 * [|Ngāi Tātou] a way of referring to everyone present – we all
 * [|Pākehā] this word is not an insult; its derivation is obscure; it is the Māori word for people living in New Zealand of British/European origin; originally it would not have included, for example, Dalmatians, Italians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese, etc.
 * [|Rangatira] person of chiefly rank, boss, owner
 * [|Tama] son, young man, youth
 * [|Tamāhine] daughter
 * [|Tamaiti] one child
 * [|Tamariki] children
 * [|Tāne] man, husband, men, husbands
 * [|Teina/taina] junior relative, younger brother of a brother, younger sister of a sister
 * [|Tipuna/tupuna] ancestor
 * [|Tuahine] sister of a man
 * [|Tuakana] senior relative, older brother of a brother, older sister of a sister
 * [|Tungāne] brother of a sister
 * [|Wahine] woman, wife (wāhine women, wives)
 * [|Waka] canoe, canoe group (all the iwi and hapū descended from the crew of a founding waka)
 * [|Whāngai] fostered or adopted child, young person
 * [|Whānau] extended or non-nuclear family
 * [|Whanaunga] kin, relatives
 * [|Au] current
 * [|Awa] river
 * [|Iti] small, little
 * [|Kai] one of the meanings of kai is food; in a place name it signifies a place where a particular food source was plentiful, e.g., Kaikōura, the place where crayfish (kōura) abounded and were eaten
 * Mānia plain
 * [|Manga] stream
 * [|Maunga] mountain
 * [|Moana] sea, or large inland 'sea', e.g., Taupō
 * [|Motu] island
 * [|Nui] large, big
 * [|ō] or o means 'of' (so does a, ā); many names begin with ō, meaning the place of so-and-so, e.g., ōkahukura, ōkiwi, ōhau, etc.
 * [|One] sand, earth
 * [|Pae] ridge, range
 * [|Papa] flat
 * [|Poto] short
 * [|Puke] hill
 * [|Roa] long
 * [|Roto] lake; inside
 * [|Tai] coast, tide
 * [|Wai] water
 * [|Whanga] harbour, bay
 * [|E noho rā] Goodbye (from a person leaving)
 * [|E haere rā] Goodbye (from a person staying)
 * [|Haere mai] Welcome!, Come!
 * [|Hei konā rā] Goodbye (less formal)
 * [|Kia ora] Hi!, G'day! (general informal greeting)
 * [|Mōrena] (Good) morning!
 * [|Nau mai] Welcome! Come!
 * [|Tēnā koe] formal greeting to one person
 * [|Tēnā kōrua] formal greeting to two people
 * [|Tēnā koutou] formal greeting to many people
 * [|Tēnā tātou katoa] formal inclusive greeting to everybody present, including oneself
 * [|Arero] tongue
 * [|Ihu] nose
 * [|Kakī] neck
 * [|Kauae], kauwae chin
 * [|Kōpū] womb
 * [|Huruhuru] hair (when used for hair must always be used in plural, indicated by ngā [the, plural]), head
 * [|Manawa] heart
 * [|Niho] teeth
 * [|Poho] chest (also called uma)
 * [|Puku] belly, stomach
 * [|Ringa] hand, arm
 * [|Toto] blood
 * [|Tou] bottom
 * [|Turi] knee (also known as pona)
 * [|Upoko] head
 * [|Waewae] foot, feet, leg, legs