pūharu
1. (modifier) large, choice, prime, best.
Nō te ūnga ki uta ki te one i Rangaunu ka rere a Ruawharo rāua ko Tūpai ki roto o te kupenga ki te hone i ngā ika pūharu mā rāua (JPS 1907:221). / When they landed on the beach at Rangaunu, Ruawharo and Tūpai rushed into the net to grab the choicest fish for themselves.
Synonyms: paerangi, aporei, poutūmārō, poutūmārōtanga, korahi, tetere, matararahi, mātua, nunui, whakahara, mokorahi, pūhetī, kaitā, kūpara, mokorarahi, rahi, pūwharu, whakatikotiko, pūwheti, tuangea, ruarangi, nui, hira, mātuatua, matarahi, rarahi, katete
2. (interjection) Hello (literal translation - be well) (to any number of people). Kia ora can mean hello, good morning, good afternoon and thank you (PQ 2020: 62).
te mutunga (kē) mai (nei) o te ...
1. the ultimate in, absolutely, the epitome of, the best, the worst - an idiom used to exclaim about the quality of something or someone, both good and bad.
(Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 147;)
Ko te mutunga mai o te riko o tēnei rūma. / This room is filthy.
Kei reira ētahi whakaahua te mutunga kē mai nei o te ātaahua (HM 3/1998:7). / At that place there were some photographs that were extremely beautiful.
Taringa morimori? Āe, te mutunga kē mai! / Stubborn? Yes, with a vengeance!
Synonyms: ehara ehara, pū, anō, moruka, mārika, tahi, mōrukaruka, mārire, pohapoha, puru, piropiro, hāwerewere, rukaruka, mārie
kāore/kore (kē) he painga i [a Mea]
1. [so-and-so] is very good at, [you're] too much, [you're] on to it, no flies on [you], no sweat, without peer, no comparison, [you're] the best - an idiom used to say how very good someone is at a particular activity, or how excellent something is.
Kāore he painga i a Poia mō te tito waiata. / Poia is outstanding at composing songs.
Kore he painga i a koe mō te kōrero paki. / You're too much at telling yarns.
Mō te komekome, kāore he painga. / For whinging, she’s without peer.
See also kāhore he painga ki a
tino
1. (modifier) importance, main, best, top, principal, pre-eminent, favourite, staple, real, true, absolute - when used before a noun to indicate something is unrivalled or is true or genuine.
(Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 48-49;)
Koia nei te tino kai a taua iwi. / This is the staple food of that people.
Wairākau: Ko te tino tikanga o tēnei kupu mō ngā mea kei te whakamōmona i te whenua kia kaha ai te tipu o te kai (RK 1994:168). / Wairākau: The true use of this word is for things that are enriching the land so that crops grow strongly.
Synonyms: pekepoho, aporei, timuaki, tumuaki, tupu, tinana, tipu, ake, tūturu
2. (modifier) very, quite, exact, true, really - when used before an adjective or verb to show a high degree or absoluteness.
(Te Kōhure Textbook (Ed. 2): 48-49;)
3. (noun) main, important, value, significance, essence, essential, quintessence, soul, substance - when used as a noun.
Synonyms: matū, wairua, aporei, matua, whakaihiihi, waitohu, hiranga, whakahirahiratanga, hirahira, māramatanga
4. (interjection) I totally agree, yes indeed, agreed, positively - used to show strong agreement with a statement.
Te reka kē o te tītī nei! Tino! / This mutton bird is really tasty! Yes, indeed!
ngaro
1. (noun) variety of harakeke from the Moutoa swamp, Foxton. Very tall (up to 3 metres) and straight. Bush has dark, bronzy-green appearance. The young blades are a distinct bronze shade and are relieved by a scarlet line along the centre of the blades. Produces silky muka, but is also used for piupiu and kete. Ideal for whenu and aho in cloaks. Recognised last century as one of the best cultivars for milling. Strong, hard fibre, well suited for cordage.
tētēkura
1. (noun) canoe figurehead - carved without arms or legs.
Koia rā i tangohia mai ai te mahi toa a te tētēkura ki te pakaru i te ngaru moana ki runga ki te tangata toa ki te pakanga (TP 3/1910:4). / That is why the bold function of the canoe figurehead in breaking the waves of the sea is applied to a brave person in battle.
2. (noun) brave warrior.
Tētēkura: mō te tangata toa, i putake mai i te tētēkura i te ihu o te waka (TP 3/1910:4). / Tētēkura (brave warrior): for the brave warrior and it originates from the term for the figurehead of a canoe.
3. (noun) young shoot, frond (of a fern or plant).
Ka ngaro he tētēkura, ka whakaete mai he tētēkura (HKW 1/8/1900:9). / As one fern frond disappears, another one thrust upwards. (A whakataukī with a number of variations in wording, all referring to chiefs being replaced when they die by younger emerging leaders, e.g. 'Mate atu he tētēkura, whakaete mai he tētēkura' (TP 7/1908:9).)
4. (noun) chief, leader.
Kātahi nei anō ka whakawhitia mai te tētēkura ki runga ki te rangatira, nō te mea kua kore ngā toa pakanga (TP 3/1910:4). / More recently the term 'tētēkura' has been transferred for a chief, because there are no longer warriors in battle.
See also tētē kura
Synonyms: tumuaki, tumu whakarae, kaiarataki, kaikākāriki, ngārahu, uru, kaihautū, kaitakitaki, kaingārahu, manukura, kaiwhakanekeneke, manu taupua, amokapua, amokura, ariki, ihorei, kahika, tātarariki, poutoko, whakataka, amorangi, hautū, tātāriki, kaitaki, kaitātaki, kaiārahi, kākākura, pouwhenua, kaiwhakataki, wheao
5. (noun) Prince of Wales Feathers, crape fern, Leptopteris superba - native tufted ground fern, often with a short woody trunk. Fronds tapered equally at both ends, very finely divided. Fluffy to touch. Grows best in cool, wet forest.
See also heruheru
Synonyms: maikukuroa, ngutu kākāriki, pūniu, tētē kura, ngutungutu kiwi, pūnui, tētē, heruheru
imurangi
1. (noun) fragmentary rainbow - according to Elsdon Best, the parents or origin of the rainbow are the imurangi, seen on the horizon, and tuhirangi (the redness of the horizon).
Ko Kahukura rāua ko Tūāwhiorangi, he atua ēnā, tō rāua matua ko te imurangi e mau mai nā i te taha o te rangi (W 1971:77). / Kahukura and Tūāwhiorangi, those are atua and their father is the fragmentary rainbow that is held on the edge of the heavens.
rehu
1. (noun) long traditional flute - with a closed top and a transverse blowing hole and finger holes like a pōrutu.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 168;)
Ko ngā wheua o te hunga maitai i patua nei he mea mahi hei tīrou kai, ā, ko ngā wheua o ngā hūhā he mea mahi hei tōrino, arā, hei rehu (TAH 51:17). / The bones of the foreigners who had been killed were made into forks for picking up food, and the thigh bones were made into flutes.
2. (noun) recorder (musical instrument) - probably best distinguished from the traditional flute described above by adding the word Pākehā.
2. (verb) to break (of waves on the shore), surge (of the sea).
Ka āta pōrutu mai ngā ngaru ki te ākau (Ng 1993:40). / The waves break gently along the strand (Ng 1993:40).
3. (noun) long traditional flute - with three to six finger holes near the bottom end.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 168;)
Nā te mea he roa ake te kakau o te pōrutu i tō te kōauau ka taea te whakarangirua i tōna reo. Kotahi he reo mārū, ā, ki te kaha te pupuhi kua tīorooro tōna reo tuarua (Wh3 2003:168). / Because the stem of the pōrutu is longer than the kōauau it is able to be played with two voices. One is a low voice and if it is blown hard its second voice is high-pitched.
4. (noun) piccolo - probably best distinguished from the traditional flute described above by adding the word Pākehā.
maikukuroa
1. (noun) Prince of Wales Feathers, crape fern, Leptopteris superba - native tufted ground fern, often with a short woody trunk. Fronds tapered equally at both ends, very finely divided. Fluffy to touch. Grows best in cool, wet forest. Frond tapers at both ends.
See also heruheru
Synonyms: ngutu kākāriki, pūniu, tētē kura, tētēkura, ngutungutu kiwi, pūnui, tētē, heruheru
2. (noun) Prince of Wales Feathers, crape fern, Leptopteris superba - native tufted ground fern, often with a short woody trunk. Fronds tapered equally at both ends, very finely divided. Fluffy to touch. Grows best in cool, wet forest. Frond tapers at both ends.
See also heruheru
Synonyms: heruheru, ngutu kākāriki, tētē kura, tētēkura, maikukuroa, pūnui, tētē, ngutungutu kiwi
2. (noun) Stilbocarpa polaris - and endemic species.
3. (noun) gully fern, Cyathea cunninghamii - a tall, graceful tree fern similar to mamaku but with a more slender trunk, much more slender stalks and fronds. The trunk lacks the hexagonal scar pattern of mamaku and does not have the skirt of dead stalks of 'kātote'.
4. (noun) Prince of Wales Feathers, crape fern, Leptopteris superba - native tufted ground fern, often with a short woody trunk. Fronds tapered equally at both ends, very finely divided. Fluffy to touch. Grows best in cool, wet forest. Frond tapers at both ends.
See also heruheru
Synonyms: maikukuroa, ngutu kākāriki, pūniu, tētē kura, tētēkura, ngutungutu kiwi, tētē, heruheru
5. (noun) whekī-ponga, Dicksonia fibrosa - native tree fern with very thick, soft, fibrous, rusty-brown trunk and a heavy skirt of dead, pale-brown fronds. Many narrow fronds on very short stalks, harsh to touch.
See also whekī ponga
2. (noun) chief.
Mate atu he tētē, ara mai he tētē (TTR 1990:120). / When a fern frond dies another emerges. (A figurative use - as one chief dies another rises to take his place.)
3. (noun) figurehead of a canoe without arms and legs.
E whā ngā waka nei, he waka toiera, he waka pītau, he waka pakoko, he waka tētē (TP 4/1911:10). / These four canoes were: a war canoe with a carved stern and stem, a canoe with a figurehead, a canoe with an armless figurehead, and a canoe with a figurehead without arms and legs.
4. (noun) Prince of Wales Feathers, crape fern, Leptopteris superba - native tufted ground fern, often with a short woody trunk. Fronds tapered equally at both ends, very finely divided. Fluffy to touch. Grows best in cool, wet forest. Frond tapers at both ends.
See also heruheru
Synonyms: maikukuroa, ngutu kākāriki, pūniu, tētē kura, tētēkura, ngutungutu kiwi, pūnui, heruheru
tētē kura
1. (noun) chief.
Ka tau tā rātou kōrero kia riro ko ia hei tētē kura whakakī i te whārua i mahue ake i tōna tuakana (TTR 1998:23). / They decided that he should become the chief to fill the vacancy left by his elder brother.
See also tētēkura
2. (noun) Prince of Wales Feathers, crape fern, Leptopteris superba - native tufted ground fern, often with a short woody trunk. Fronds tapered equally at both ends, very finely divided. Fluffy to touch. Grows best in cool, wet forest. Frond tapers at both ends.
See also tētē
Synonyms: heruheru, ngutu kākāriki, pūniu, tētēkura, maikukuroa, pūnui, tētē, ngutungutu kiwi
pūtātara
1. (noun) knobbed triton, Charonia lampas rubicunda - a subspecies of very large sea snail the shell of which is used for conch shell trumpets.
Synonyms: tātara, tūteure, pūtaratara
2. (noun) ostrich foot snail, Struthiolaria papulosa - a spindle-shaped, univalve mollusc common near low tide just beneath the surface on sand or tidal flats on open coasts. The shoulder of the shell spiral is knobbly and the heavy lip is white.
Synonyms: pūtaratara
3. (noun) conch shell trumpet with an attached short, wooden mouthpiece.
(Te Māhuri Textbook (Ed. 2): 164; Te Māhuri Study Guide (Ed. 1): 75;)
Ko te pūtātara he taonga pūoro he mea hanga i te anga wahanui nō te moana. Ka hono he waha ki te pito koikoi o te anga. Arā atu anō ētahi ingoa mō tēnei taonga: he potipoti, he pūmoana (TWK 41:12). / A pūtātara is a musical instrument made from the conch shell of the ocean. A mouthpiece is attached to the sharp end of the shell. There are other names for this instrument: 'potipoti' and 'pūmoana'.
4. (noun) trumpet - best distinguished from the traditional instrument by adding Pākehā.
kihikihi-wawā
1. (noun) cicada chorus, Amphipsalta zealandica - Aotearoa/New Zealand's largest, best-known and most widespread cicada, with a green patch on the top and extra long wings. Found in forests.
See also kihikihi, kihikihitara
