Glossary of Maori Terms



aka: muehlenbeckia
akonga: students
hapu: extended family
harakeke: weaving with flax, the flax itself
hikoi: journey
hui: meeting
iwi: tribal group
kaitiaki: guardian
karakia: prayers
kaumatua: elders
kaupapa: purpose or topic
kiekie: Freycinetia bonksii
koauau: traditional flute
kohanga reo: Maori language nest (pre-school)
kokiri: to prepare or pave the way, a training centre
kowhaiwhai: painting
maata waka: direct descendents of the people of all the waka
manaaki: feeding,aiding
manawhenua: people with tribal affiliation with the area
Maoritanga: Maori culture
marae: a gathering place
moemoea: vision or dream
neinei: mountain dracophyllum
nga taonga puoro: sound treasures, traditional musical instruments
nga tohu pumahara: memorial markers
pa: a fortified living place
pirita: Ripogonum scondens
poupou: standing carving
purerehua: bull roarer
putea: treasury
putoriuo: traditional flute


raranga: weaving
Raukawa Moana: Cook Strait, between the North and South Islands
raupatu: conquest
reo: Maori language
tamariki: children
tangata whenua: people of the land
tangihanga: grieving and burial ceremonies
taniwha: monster
taonga: things held dear, treasures
Te Tau Ihu o Te Waka a Maui: the top of the South Island (generally Nelson and Marlborough)
Te Wai Pounamu: the South Island
tikanga Maori: things Maori
tukutuku: woven wall panels
waha: gateway
wahi tapu: sacred sites
walata: song poetry
wairua: spiritualness
waka: traditional canoe, also can be the first canoes that brought the people to this country, as in 'the Tainui waka'
wananga: school or workshop
whakairo: carving
whakakotahitanga: unity
whakapapa: origins or genealogy
whakatauki: proverb
whanau: family
wharekai: cooking and eating house
wharenui: meeting house
whenua: land