The following
English words are
loanwords from the
Māori language. Many of them concern native New Zealand flora and fauna that were known prior to the arrival of Europeans in New Zealand. Other terms relate to Māori customs. All of these words are commonly encountered in
New Zealand English, and several (such as kiwi) are widely used across other varieties of English, and in other languages.
The Māori alphabet includes both long and short vowels, which change the meaning of words.[1] For most of the 20th century, these were not indicated by spelling, except sometimes as double vowels (paaua). Since the 1980s, the standard way to indicate long vowels is with a
macron (pāua). Since about 2015, macrons have rapidly become standard usage for Māori loanwords in New Zealand English in media, law, government, and education.[2] Recently some anglicised words have been replaced with spellings that better reflect the original Māori word (
Whanganui for Wanganui,
Remutaka for Rimutaka).[3][4]
Many New Zealand rivers and lakes have Māori names; these names predominantly use the prefixes wai- (water) and roto- (lake) respectively. Examples include the
Waikato,
Waipa and
Waimakariri rivers, and lakes
Rotorua,
Rotomahana and
Rotoiti.
A Māori name for New Zealand, Aotearoa, has gained some currency as a more acceptable alternative. It appears in the names of some political parties, e.g.
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and Communist Party of Aotearoa.
treasure, especially cultural treasures. Māori usage: property, goods, possessions, effects, treasure, something prized. The term whare taonga ("treasure house") is used in the Māori names of museums
a political term, sometimes translated as "chieftainship," but most accurately rendered as "(complete) sovereign authority", a right promised to Māori in the
Treaty of Waitangi
Many Māori words or phrases that describe
Māori culture have become assimilated into English or are used as foreign words, particularly in New Zealand English, and might be used in general (non-Māori) contexts. Some of these are:
Aotearoa: New Zealand. Popularly interpreted to mean 'land of the long white cloud', but the original derivation is uncertain
matangi: wind, breeze ("Matangi" is the name for
a class of electric multiple unit trains used on the Wellington suburban network, so named after Wellington's windy reputation).
^The name "Otago", and several other placenames in the southern South Island have names from a southern dialect of Māori, and thus these names are not in keeping with standard Māori spelling. Other names of this type include
Lake Waihola and
Wangaloa.
The following
English words are
loanwords from the
Māori language. Many of them concern native New Zealand flora and fauna that were known prior to the arrival of Europeans in New Zealand. Other terms relate to Māori customs. All of these words are commonly encountered in
New Zealand English, and several (such as kiwi) are widely used across other varieties of English, and in other languages.
The Māori alphabet includes both long and short vowels, which change the meaning of words.[1] For most of the 20th century, these were not indicated by spelling, except sometimes as double vowels (paaua). Since the 1980s, the standard way to indicate long vowels is with a
macron (pāua). Since about 2015, macrons have rapidly become standard usage for Māori loanwords in New Zealand English in media, law, government, and education.[2] Recently some anglicised words have been replaced with spellings that better reflect the original Māori word (
Whanganui for Wanganui,
Remutaka for Rimutaka).[3][4]
Many New Zealand rivers and lakes have Māori names; these names predominantly use the prefixes wai- (water) and roto- (lake) respectively. Examples include the
Waikato,
Waipa and
Waimakariri rivers, and lakes
Rotorua,
Rotomahana and
Rotoiti.
A Māori name for New Zealand, Aotearoa, has gained some currency as a more acceptable alternative. It appears in the names of some political parties, e.g.
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and Communist Party of Aotearoa.
treasure, especially cultural treasures. Māori usage: property, goods, possessions, effects, treasure, something prized. The term whare taonga ("treasure house") is used in the Māori names of museums
a political term, sometimes translated as "chieftainship," but most accurately rendered as "(complete) sovereign authority", a right promised to Māori in the
Treaty of Waitangi
Many Māori words or phrases that describe
Māori culture have become assimilated into English or are used as foreign words, particularly in New Zealand English, and might be used in general (non-Māori) contexts. Some of these are:
Aotearoa: New Zealand. Popularly interpreted to mean 'land of the long white cloud', but the original derivation is uncertain
matangi: wind, breeze ("Matangi" is the name for
a class of electric multiple unit trains used on the Wellington suburban network, so named after Wellington's windy reputation).
^The name "Otago", and several other placenames in the southern South Island have names from a southern dialect of Māori, and thus these names are not in keeping with standard Māori spelling. Other names of this type include
Lake Waihola and
Wangaloa.