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Loan words

Historical loan words

kōkopu

1. (noun) banded kōkopu, cockabully, Galaxias fasciatus, whitebait - small, blunt-nosed, endemic freshwater fish that is slender, lacks scales and carries a dorsal fin set far to the rear. Head and body dark brown to olive-green with narrow polar bars crossing flanks and continuous across back. Widespread in forested areas. Capable of climbing moist vertical faces. The juvenile form is called whitebait.

E kīia ana, kua tae mai ngā ika o Karapōnia, e kīa nei, he tarauta (e pēnei ana me te kōkopu wai māori a te Māori) ā kua tukua atu aua ika ki tētahi o ngā roto i Waikato (TW 2/11/1878:546). / It is reported that fish from California have arrived, which are called trout (and are like the Maori’s fresh water kōkopu) and those fish have been released in one of the lakes in Waikato.

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Synonyms: kōriwhariwha, kōawheawhe, kōkopuruao, kōkopu taiwhara, kōpakopako, para, parakeke, ruao, ruwao, moruru


2. (noun) large species of eel.

Nō te tau 1965 ka kōrero te kaumātua rā a Tame Saunders mō ngā momo tuna heke, rere kotahi katoa ai tēnā momo tuna, tēnā momo tuna, tēnā momo tuna: tuatahi ko ngā hao (30 henemita te roa), whai muri ko ngā riko (he kākāriki te tuarā, kotahi mita te roa), ngā paranui (he pango te tae, he kiri mātotoru), kātahi ngā tuna kōkopu (tae ki te 1.8 mita te roa, hāwhe koma-mano te taumaha) (Te Ara 2013). / Tame Saunders, an elder, described in 1965 how the different types of eels came down in the same order: first the hao (king eels, about 30 centimetres long), then the riko (greenish-backed eels, about a metre long), then the paranui (dark, with thick skins), and finally the kōkopu tuna (up to 1.8 metres long and weighing just under 30 kilograms).

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Synonyms: riko


3. (noun) variety of greenstone like tōtōweka but with smaller regular dots like the freshwater fish called kōkopu.


4. (noun) bullhead, bullies, Gobiomorphus spp. - a small, blunt-headed, sluggish, endemic freshwater fish.


5. (noun) giant bully, Gobiomorphus gobioides - stocky fish with large head, two separate dorsal fins, strong body scales, and pelvic fins located forwards beneath the gill openings. Very dark, often black with irregular, golden olive lines on cheeks and a linear series of small, golden speckles on each flank. An endemic fish widespread in esturine and coastal waters of the North and South Islands. Rarely moves more than 2 km inland. Emerges at night to feed.

kōkopu taiwhara

1. (noun) banded kōkopu, cockabully, Galaxias fasciatus, whitebait - small, blunt-nosed, endemic freshwater fish that is slender, lacks scales and carries a dorsal fin set far to the rear. Head and body dark brown to olive-green with narrow polar bars crossing flanks and continuous across back. Widespread in forested areas. Capable of climbing moist vertical faces. The juvenile form is called whitebait.

one-kōkopu

1. (noun) gravelly soil.

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