tai

1. (location) the sea, coast (as opposed to uta when referring to the hinterland) - a location word, or locative, which follows immediately after particles such as ki, i, hei and kei.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 15-16, 29;)

He waka ki tai, he hōiho ki uta. / A canoe at sea, a horse on the land.

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2. (noun) tide, sea - used as a noun.

E timu ana te tai. / The tide is going out.

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tai

1. (noun) friend - a term of address for males or females.

Ka karanga atu ia ki tōna taokete, "E tai, e kore rānei koe e pai kia haere hei hoa mōku?" (NM 1928:101). / He called to his brother-in-law, "Friend, don't you want to go as a companion for me?"

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tai-

1. Prefix which sometimes has a qualifying force, e.g. taitamariki (youth, teenagers), but sometimes having no apparent effect, e.g. taiheke (slope).

Ko te tikanga ake o te kupu koia rā he taitamariki (TP 5/1909:1). / The actual meaning of the word is youth.

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tai āniwhaniwha

1. (noun) tsunami - a destructive wave caused by an earthquake.

Ngāi Tai

1. (personal noun) tribal group in the area around Tōrere and also at Clevedon near Auckland.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 42;)

E kī ana a Te Tūtere, kei te whakaae a Ngāi Tai o Tōrere ki tā Hēnare Ruru, engari i kī a Te Wētini Taku o Ngāi Tai, i titoa te waiata nei e taua wahine ki Tōrere (M 2006:108). / Te Tūtere said that Ngāi Tai of Tōrere agrees with Hēnare Ruru, but Te Wētini Taku of Ngāi Tai claims that this song was composed by that woman at Tōrere.

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tai mate

1. (noun) slack water, slow-moving water - a time at the turn of the tide when it is neither ebbing nor flowing.

Tirohia ake te pō ka tuku iho i runga Te Torohanga, ko te tohu tai mate ē (MM.TKM 1/2/1855:29). / Look up at the darkness that gathers on Te Torohanga, the sign of slack water.
He tai mate tēnei. Ka hoe tātou (W 1971:364). / This is slack water. Let's paddle.

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tai nui

1. (noun) spring tide, king tide, tidal wave, huge tide.

Tekau mā rua putu te teitei o te tai nui i pā atu ki te ākau o Tonga, he motu kei te taha whakarua o Niu Tīrani (TWMNT 5/6/1877:149). / The tidal wave that struck the shores of Tonga, islands to the north-east of New Zealand, was twelve feet high.

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tōrea tai

1. (noun) variable oystercatcher, Haematopus unicolor, Chatham Island oystercatcher, Haematopus chathamensis - a sea-coast wading bird slightly larger than the pied oystercatcher, with black-and-white or all-black plumage and a strong orange-red bill. Feeds chiefly on shellfish.

wai tai

1. (noun) sea water, salt water.

Ka kitea atu te mahi a te aua e ngote ana i te wai tai (HP 1991:16). / Lots of yellow-eyed mullet were seen sucking the sea water.

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maremare tai

1. (noun) jellyfish - a general name.

tai toko

1. (noun) high spring tide.

tai koko

1. (noun) high spring tide.

tai pari

1. (noun) high tide.

Ko te wāhi e tārewa ana ko ngā roto kei waenganui i ngā whenua, ko ngā parumoana, arā ko ngā whenua e pā ana ki ngā moana, e ngaromia ana e te tai pari. Ki te Māori he whenua ēnei nōna (TTT 1/8/1922:13). / The part still unresolved relates to lakes within the land and the seabed, that is the land associated with the sea which is covered by the high tide. To the Māori this land belongs to them.

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kiri tai

1. (noun) outer skin, epidermis.

matuku tai

1. (noun) reef heron, Egretta sacra - a slaty-grey heron with a long, heavy, grey to yellowish bill. Legs relatively short, yellow-green. Hunched and almost horizontal when feeding. Found in mangrove inlets, rocky shores, wave platforms and intertidal mudflats.

tai timu

1. (noun) ebb tide, low tide, low water.

I te mea e aru ana rāua i te tai timu, mahue ana ō rāua whakaaro mō ngā hōiho rā (TWK 11:19). / Because the two of them were chasing the low tide, they forgot about those horses.

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tai matapari

1. (noun) fiord.

He maha ngā āhua o te takutai roa, kōpikopiko o Aotearoa - ngā tāhuna kirikiri, ngā onepū, ngā wahapū, ngā tai matapari (Te Ara 2016). / There are many features of the long and winding coast of New Zealand - gravel sandbanks, beaches, estuaries and fiords.

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tai ninihi

1. (noun) neap tide.

Kāore e pai te mahi kahitua i te tai ninihi, i te mea kāore te tai i tino heke atu i tēnei wā o te marama (PK 2008:499). / It is no good collecting tuatua at a neap tide, because the tide doesn't get really low at this time of the month.

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