A Māori word a day - Māori Language Week | NZHistory, New Zealand history online

365 useful words and phrases in te reo Māori

These words and phrases have been compiled and recorded by Martin Wikaira. See 100 Māori words every New Zealander should know for more words and a pronunciation guide.

Categories: Holidays and anniversaries; days, months and seasons; the marae; greetings; protocols, roles, emotions and characteristics; families and people; places; numbers; natural world; sport; iwi; government organisations; food and drink; body parts; shops, buildings, rooms, etc.; transport; other useful words and phrases

Holidays and anniversaries

Tau-hou – New Year
Parairei Pai – Good Friday (also Paraire)
Aranga – Easter Sunday
Rā Maumahara ki nga hoia o Aotearoa me Ahitereiria – Anzac Day
Rā whanau o te Kuini o Ingarangi – Queen’s Birthday
Matariki – beginning of Māori New Year, Pleiades
Kirihimete – Christmas
Ā-tau – annual
Hararei – holiday
Whakatā – rest
Whakanui – celebrate
Koha – present
Hana kōkō – Father Christmas
Hākari – feast

Days, months and seasons

Rāhina; Mane – Monday
Rātū; Tūrei – Tuesday
Rāapa; Wenerei – Wednesday
Rāpare; Taite – Thursday
Rāmere; Paraire – Friday
Rāhoroi – Saturday
Rātapu – Sunday
Kohitātea – January
Hui-tanguru – February (also Pepuere)
Poutū-te-rangi – March
Paenga-Whāwhā – April
Haratua – May
Pipiri – June
Hōngongoi – July
Hereturi-kōkā – August
Mahuru – September
Whiringa-ā-nuku – October
Whiringa-ā-rangi – November
Hakihea – December
Raumati – summer
Ngahuru – autumn
Takurua – winter
Kōanga – spring

The marae

Whakatau – visit
Manuhiri – visitor, guest
Paepae – speakers’ seats (for both visitors and hosts)
Hui – meeting, conference, gathering
Marae – complex that includes meeting house, dining hall, forecourt, etc.
Tangihanga – funeral ceremony in which a body is mourned on the marae
Tangi – shortened version of tangihanga. Also means to cry or to mourn
Karanga – the protocol of women calling guests onto the marae
Manuhiri – guests at or visitors to the marae
Tangata whenua – hosts, local people, ‘people of the land’
Kaikōrero – speaker, one who makes a speech
Haka – chant with dance for the purpose of challenge
Waiata – song or chant which follows a speech; can be a haka
Koha – gift, present. Usually money, can be food or precious items, given by guests to hosts
Whare nui – meeting house, big house for communal gathering, sleeping house
Whare whakairo – carved meeting house
Whare kai – dining hall, eating place; often used for meetings
Wharepaku – ‘small house’; ablution block, toilets and shower room
Whare horoi – bathroom

Greetings

Nau mai – welcome
E noho rā – farewell (from a person leaving)
Haere mai – Welcome! Enter!
Haere rā – farewell, goodbye (from someone staying)
Hei konā rā – farewell, goodbye (less formal)
Ka kite – see you again, see you soon (informal)
Kia ora – Hello, hi, greetings; term of acknowledgement or thanks
Tēnā koe – formal greeting to one person
Tēnā kōrua – formal greeting to two people
Tēnā koutou – formal greeting to more than two people
Mōrena – good morning (also atamarie)
Pōmarie – goodnight or good evening
Tēnā tātou katoa – formal inclusive greeting that includes the speaker

Protocols, roles, emotions and characteristics

Aroha – compassion, tenderness, sustaining love
Ihi – power, authority, essential force
Mana – authority, power; influence, reputation
Mauri – hidden essential life force, or a symbol of this
Noa – safe from tapu (see below), non-sacred, not tabooed
Tino rangatiratanga – the highest possible independent chiefly authority, paramount authority
Whaikōrero – art and practice of speech-making
Manaakitanga – respect for hosts or kindness to guests
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
Raupatu – confiscate, take by force
Wehi – to be held in awe

Families and people

Whānau – family
Matāmua – first-born
Pōtiki – youngest
Pāpā – father
Whaea – mother
Tamaiti – child
Tamāhine – daughter
Tipuna or tupuna – ancestor
Wahine – woman, wife
Tamaiti whāngai – adopted child
Tuakana – older brother of a male
Tuakana – older sister of a female
Teina – younger brother of a male
Teina – younger sister of a female
Tungāne – brother of a female
Tuahine – sister of a male
Kuia – old woman
Koroua, koro – old man
Whanaunga – blood relation
Kaumātua – elder of group
Whakapapa – family tree, genealogy
Whāngai – fostered or adopted child
Tāne – man, husband
Tamariki – children
Tama – son, young man, youth
Rangatira – person of chiefly rank, boss, owner
Pākehā – people of European origin, non-Māori
Ngāi Tātou – a way of referring to everyone present
Iwi – people, nation: modern usage, tribal bones
Hapū – clan, tribe or sub-tribe, to be born

Places

Taone-nui – city
Huarahi – road, highway
Waitangi – national celebration of the Treaty of Waitangi; ‘weeping waters’
Rohe – boundary, the territory (geographical and/or spiritual) of an iwi or hapū
Tūrangawaewae – a place to stand, a place to belong to, a seat or location of identity
Whenua – land, homeland, country (also afterbirth, placenta)
Te Reinga – point at northern tip of New Zealand
Kaitāia – far north town with Dalmatian settlers
Paihia – idyllic tourist place in far north, next to Waitangi
Hokianga – early Māori explorers used harbour as place to return to
Whāngārei – city in far north near oil refinery
Akarana – Auckland (also Tāmaki Makaurau)
Waikato – river and district south of Auckland
Tainui – tribal confederation of Waikato people
Rangiriri – historic redoubt in Waikato
Ngāruawāhia – home of the Tainui King Tūheitia
Kirikiriroa – Hamilton
Ahuriri – Napier
Hauraki – tribe to the east of Waikato
Tauranga – Bay of Plenty city, home of Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāi te Rangi
Rotorua – tourist city with natural hot pools and Māori cultural activities
Taupō – town at northern end of large central North Island lake of the same name, which is often pronounced incorrectly
Tūrangi – town at south end of Lake Taupō. Home of Ngāti Tūwharetoa.
Kāwhia – west coast settlement where the Tainui waka landed
Tūranga – Gisborne
Heretaunga – Hastings
Whakatāne – town in the eastern Bay of Plenty
Whanganui – town and river
Taranaki – mountain to the west
Tongariro – mountain of central North Island
Ruapehu – mountain of central North Island
Papa-i-oea – Palmerston North
Paraparaumu – town in southern North Island; often pronounced incorrectly
Te Awa Kairangi – Hutt Valley
Te Whanganui a Tara – Wellington
Te Moana o Raukawa – Cook Strait
Whakatū – Nelson (to stand and make a speech)
Waiharakeke – Blenheim (place where flax grows)
Kaikōura – town named for its abundant crayfish
Ōtautahi – Christchurch; the river Avon
Ōtepoti – Dunedin (place situated at a corner)
Aoraki – Mt Cook (sky piercer)
Te Waipounamu – South Island
Rakiura – Stewart Island
Te Ara a Kiwa – Foveaux Strait
Te Tai Poutini – West Coast of the South Island
Wharekauri – Chatham Islands, also known as Rēkohu
Manapōuri – lake and hydro scheme in the South Island
Wānaka – lake in the South Island
Wakatipu – lake in the South Island (place to rebuild tribal strength)
Ruapuke – two hills; two prominent features on an island
Kaiapoi – to swing food
Arahura – path of discovery
Waitaki – weeping waters (Ngāi Tahu dialect; cf Waitangi)
Moeraki – a place to sleep by day
Ōamaru – place of the god Maru
Timaru – cabbage-tree shelter
Motueka – woodhens in a grove of trees
Temuka – a fierce (hot) oven
Ōmarama – place of light
Hokitika – return directly
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