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Idioms

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Loan words

Historical loan words

moko

1. (noun) Māori tattooing designs on the face or body done under traditional protocols.

Tika tonu mātou ki te whare hei kākahutanga i ō mātou kahu Māori, e takatū ana mō te haka, tā rawa te kanohi ki te moko (TP 1/12/1902:3). / We went straight to the house to change into our Māori costumes, prepare for the performance and apply the moko to our faces.

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2. (noun) logo, trademark.

Kei te poraka e mau ana te moko o te Taura Whiri (arā, ki te uma (taha mauī), he whakaahua paku noa iho), ā, kei te angaangamate ko te moko whakanui i te Tau o te Reo Māori (HM 4/1994:12). / On the sweatshirt is the logo of the Māori Language Commission (that is on the chest (left side), just a small design), and on the reverse side is the logo celebrating the Year of the Māori Language.

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3. (noun) lizard, skink and gecko - a general term. Because of their spiritual association with the atua Whiro, whose realm was of things evil, tuatara and geckos were feared.

Synonyms: mokopeke, kumukumu, mokomoko


4. (noun) reptile.

moko

1. (noun) grandchild - a term of address used by an older person for a grandchild or a young child. Short for mokopuna.

He aha hei parakuihi māu, e moko? / What do you want for breakfast, grandchild?

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moko pirirākau

1. (noun) forest gecko, Hoplodactylus granulatus - favours more shaded environments and can change its colour scheme to merge with its background.

moko rangitahi

1. (noun) temporary moko.

tā moko

1. (verb) (-a) to tattoo, apply traditional tattoo, apply moko - sometimes written as one word, i.e. tāmoko.

Nō te tau 2007 ka tā mokoa ia e te tohunga tā moko, e Derek Lardelli (Te Ara 2016). / In 2007 she was tattooed by the traditional tattooing expert, Derek Lardelli.

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2. (modifier) traditional tattooing.

Ka mauria te tohunga tā moko nei e Ngā Puhi mai i Hauraki ki te Tai Tokerau (TWK 51:10). / This tattooing expert was taken by Ngā Puhi from Hauraki to Northland.

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3. (noun) traditional tattooing - Māori tattooing designs on the face or body done under traditional protocols.

He tohunga nō neherā mō ngā mahi whakapaipai i te tangata, mō te tā moko, mō te aha (M 2004:62). / An ancient expert in the art of personal decoration, of traditional tattooing and other arts.

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See also moko,

moko pāpā

1. (noun) common gecko, Hoplodactylus maculatus - variable in colour and pattern but usually pale brown or putty-grey marked with paler and darker shades.

See also moko tāpiri

moko tāpiri

1. (noun) common gecko, Hoplodactylus maculatus - variable in colour and pattern but usually pale brown or putty-grey marked with paler and darker shades.

Ko te moko kākāriki me te moko tāpiri ka whakanōhia kia tata ki te kōhatu mauri hei tiaki i taua kōhatu mō ake tonu atu (Te Ara 2011). / The green gecko and common gecko were released near mauri stones as guardians forever.

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moko kata

1. (noun) unidentified species of lizard.

See also moko

moko kākāriki

1. (noun) green tree gecko and jewelled gecko, Naultinus spp. - green geckos of various species found in low, dense shrubbery.

Ko te moko kākāriki me te moko tāpiri ka whakanōhia kia tata ki te kōhatu mauri hei tiaki i taua kōhatu mō ake tonu atu (Te Ara 2011). / The green gecko and common gecko were released near mauri stones as guardians forever.

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See also kākāriki

toi moko

1. (noun) art of tattooing.

He pūkenga ngā tohunga ki ngā momo toi whakairo, toi moko, te waihanga whare me ngā mahi ā-wairua (Te Ara 2013). / Tohunga were specialists in areas such as carving, tattooing, building houses and spiritual matters.

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2. (noun) tattooed preserved head - done for two reasons, either to venerate a loved one, or as a trophy of war to ridicule an enemy. In the nineteenth century toi moko were traded with Pākehā in exchange for muskets and gunpowder.

E rua tekau ngā toi moko Māori e hoki mai ana i Parī ki te wā kāinga nei. Neke atu i te rua rau tau aua tūpuna e takoto ana i roto i ngā whare pupuri taonga o Wīwī (Te Karere 12-1-2012). / Twenty tattooed preserved Māori heads are returning home from Paris. Those ancestors have been in the museums of France for more than two hundred years.

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moko tuauri

1. (noun) dinosaur - large extinct reptiles.

moko pārae

1. (noun) gecko (an unidentified species).

Te ingoa o taua waka, ko 'Mangarara'; ngā rangatira o runga, ko Wheketoro, ko te Waiopotango, ko Rauarikiao, ko Tarawhata, me ētahi atu. Nā tēnei waka i mau mai te tuatara, te teretere, te kumukumu, te moko pārae, me te moko kākāriki, (he mea āhua rite katoa ki te tuatara) (TWMNT 22/8/1876:201). / The name of the canoe was 'Mangarara', and the chiefs who came on it were Wheketoro, Waiopotango, Rauarikiao, Tarawhata, and a number of others. This canoe brought the tuatara, the brown gecko, the kumukumu, the moko pārae, and the green gecko, (all reptiles like the tuatara).

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moko kauwae

1. (noun) female chin/lip tattoo.

E nui haere ana te kitea o ngā wāhine Māori e mau moko kauwae ana. We're seeing an increase in Māori women wearing the female chin tattoo. /

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moko pārae

1. unidentified species.

tohunga tā moko

1. (noun) moko expert, tattoo expert.

moko-ngarengare

1. (noun) tyrannosaurus.

Mead, Hirini Moko

1. Ngāti Awa; carver, writer, professor and leader of Ngāti Awa. Educated at Te Teko, St Stephen's School, Te Aute, University of Auckland and the University of Southern Illinois from which he graduated with a PhD. Lecturer at the University of Auckland and then founding Professor of Māori at Victoria University of Wellington. Establish Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi at Whakatāne. Chief negotiator for the Ngāti Awa claims settled in 2005. He was appointed to the Waitangi Tribunal in 2003.

moko-tā

1. a sort of death-watch, said to live in the thatch of houses, never see, but if heard regarded as an aituā' it is also called toke-whenua.

moko-tāwhana

1. caterpillar.

Rua o te Moko, Te

1. (location) mountains between the Waiau River and the fiords.

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