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Idioms

Phrases

Proverbs

Loan words

Historical loan words

Rakiura

1. (location) Stewart Island.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 78;)

Ka mutu te patu, ka kore he tāngata o taua takiwā, ka heke katoa ki Murihiku, ka rere atu ki ngā moutere noho ai, arā ki Ruapuke, ki Rakiura (TP 3/1913:8). / When the killing ended people no longer existed in that area, they all migrated to Southland and fled to the islands to live, that is to Ruapuke and Stewart Island.

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kauwhitiwhiti

1. (noun) New Zealand grasshopper, Phaulacridium marginale - a native grasshopper found in low altitudes throughout the North Island, the South Island, Stewart Island and on many smaller islands.

Whenuahou

1. (location) Codfish Island - an island off the west coast of Stewart Island.

pūwharetāiko

1. (noun) muttonbird scrub, Brachyglottis rotundifolia var. rotundifolia - shrub or tree to 9 m tall. Branchlets have dense buff to whitish hairs. Leaves are thick and leathery. Found in the southern South Island, Stewart Island and nearby islands in coastal areas.

kōuraura

1. (stative) be golden brown, bronze (colour).

Ko te kiri he kiri kōuraura hāmā, ā, kapi katoa ana a ia i te moko (TTR 1994:164). / The complexion was light bronze and he was totally covered with moko.

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2. (noun) shrimp, Paratya curvirostris - a species of freshwater shrimp endemic to Aotearoa/New Zealand. Found from North Island to Stewart Island, and including the Chatham Islands.

koeke

1. (verb) (-tia) to mature, grow old.

I a ia ka koeketia, i te kaha tonu ki te ārahi i tōna iwi, i a Tūhourangi me te iwi kāinga i Te Whakarewarewa; kāore tētehi take e ara, māna rawa e whakamana (TTR 1994:126). / When he reached old age he continued to lead Tūhourangi and the people of Whakarewarewa; nothing could be done without his approval.

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Synonyms: whatutoto, whakapakeke, pāhake, pakeke, taipakeke, tūpakeke, pakari, taikaumātua


2. (verb) (-tia) to distend, inflate, expand.

Kua koeketia te poho o te wahine nei (W 1971:123). / This woman has distended her chest.

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3. (noun) elderly man, old man, adult.

Nā tōna pāpā ake me ngā koeke i whāngai ki ngā kai mārō a tōna iwi, ā, whakangaua rawatia ki te paepae (TTR 1994:124). / His own father and the elders fed him the deep knowledge of his people, and initiated him.

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Synonyms: korokoroua, ruānuku, kaumātua, pēperekōu, nehe, tāua, kokoro, koroua, tauheke, koroheke, pou


4. (noun) grasshopper.


5. (noun) shrimp, Paratya curvirostris - a species of freshwater shrimp endemic to Aotearoa/New Zealand. Found from North Island to Stewart Island, and including the Chatham Islands.


6. (noun) North Island freshwater crayfish, Paranephrops planifrons - found in native forest, exotic forest, and pastoral waterways, but very rarely in urban streams because of chemical pollution, increased flood flows from stormwater inputs, and degradation of habitat.

Synonyms: kōura, kēkēwai, kēwai

tātarapō

1. (noun) kākāpō, ground parrot, Strigops habroptilus - rare, large, green endemic parrot that is nocturnal and flightless. Now found only on islands off Stewart Island.

See also kākāpō

Synonyms: tarapō, tarepō, kākātarapō

tarapō

1. (noun) kākāpō, ground parrot, Strigops habroptilus - rare, large, green endemic parrot that is nocturnal and flightless. Now found only on islands off Stewart Island.

See also kākāpō

Synonyms: tātarapō, tarepō, kākātarapō


2. (noun) female of North Island and South Island robin, Petroica longipes, Petroica australis - a tame, inquisitive, small bird of the bush with dark slate-grey feathers and long thin legs. Female has smaller pale area on belly.

pipirihika

1. (noun) brown creeper, Mohoua novaeseelandiae - a small endemic forest bird of the South Island and Stewart Island, reddish-brown crown, rump and tail, ash-grey on face and neck, and light buff underparts. Usually found in small, fast-moving noisy flocks high in the canopy.

See also pīpipi

Synonyms: tītirihika, toitoi, pīpipi

patete

1. (noun) seven finger, Schefflera digitata - a small forest tree which has hand-shaped leaves with fine teeth and three to nine 'fingers'. Flowers in large drooping stalks. A soft wood used in making fire. Found from North Island to Stewart Island in damp parts of the forest and along stream banks.

See also patatē

Synonyms: kōtētē, patatē, patē

kōtētē

1. (noun) seven finger, Schefflera digitata - a small forest tree which has hand-shaped leaves with fine teeth and three to nine 'fingers'. Flowers in large drooping stalks. A soft wood used in making fire. Found from North Island to Stewart Island in damp parts of the forest and along stream banks.

See also patatē

Synonyms: patete, patatē, patē

pīpipi

1. (noun) brown creeper, Mohoua novaeseelandiae - a small endemic forest bird of the South Island and Stewart Island, reddish-brown crown, rump and tail, ash-grey on face and neck, and light buff underparts. Usually found in small, fast-moving noisy flocks high in the canopy.


2. (noun) shining sunset shell, Soletellina nitida - a triangular-shaped bivalve mollusc common in sand near low tide. Fragile shell, often with a greenish-yellow, varnish-like coating. Purplish near the hinge and inside.

Kātahi taua tangata rā ka mahara he pakake; kātahi ka nuku atu ki te taha titiro atu ai. Nō te kitenga o taua tangata i ngā kanohi e kamokamo ana mai i roto i te pīpipi, kātahi anō taua tangata ka mōhio he tangata tonu (JPS 1921:43). / The man at first thought it was a minke whale, but then he moved nearer to have a closer look. When he saw the eyes of that man, which were blinking from amidst the shining sunset shells, he knew it was a human being.

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3. (noun) cirrostratus - cloud forming a thin, fairly uniform semi-translucent layer at high altitude. Often used in the phrase pīpipi o te rangi.

Ka kite a Tūpai i te rangi e tuhi ana te pīpipi o te rangi (JPS 1926:240). / Tūpai saw the sky adorned with cirrostratus cloud.

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See also pipi

kākāpō

1. (noun) kākāpō, ground parrot, Strigops habroptilus - rare, large, green endemic parrot that is nocturnal and flightless. Now found only on islands off Stewart Island.

(Te Pihinga Textbook (Ed. 2): 13;)

Ko te kākāpō he manu nō te orokio, ā, e noho ana i roto i te rua, i ngā pukepuke rarauhe, he mea nanao i reira (TW 11/9/1875:211). / The kākāpō is a night bird, and lives in holes in the earth, on the bracken fern covered hills, where they are captured.

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kākātarapō

1. (noun) kākāpō, ground parrot, Strigops habroptilus - rare, large, green endemic parrot that is nocturnal and flightless. Now found only on islands off Stewart Island.

See also kākāpō

Synonyms: tarapō, tātarapō, tarepō

toitoi

1. (noun) giant bully, Gobiomorphus gobioides and other species of bully - stocky fish with large heads, two separate dorsal fins, strong body scales, and pelvic fins located forwards beneath the gill openings. Giant bully is 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.

Ka nui te whaikōrero, ka tukua te kai, arā, te tuna, te inanga, te kōura, te toitoi (JPS 1901:74). / After a lot of speech-making, food was presented, that is eels, whitebait, crayfish and giant bully.

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See also kōkopu


2. (noun) common bully, Gobiomorphus cotidianus - an endemic fish found throughout streams and waterways of Aotearoa/New Zealand. Body moderately stout and head bluntly pointed.

See also tīpokopoko


3. (noun) Cook's turban shell, Cookia sulcata - a large, round, heavy univalve that lives under rocks just below low tide.

See also kāeo

Synonyms: karahiwa, kararuri, karekawa, kawari, koeo, koeti, koriakai, korohiwa, korona, kororiwha, kūpā, marapeka, matamatangongo, mātangata, matatangata, kōramu, matapura, tōrire, hānea, kurewha, tākupu, pipi taiari, rehoreho, rereho, taiwhatiwhati, takarape, tanetane, tāwiri, torewai, tungangi, uere, wahawaha, wētiwha, whētikotiko, karahū, tohemanga, pure, tairaki, ngūpara, pipi tairaki, kuharu, kūkuku, kūkukuroa, kukupati, pūkanikani, papahurihuri, hākari, poua, rerekākara, tio, tikoaka, toheroa, tuangi, tuangi haruru, kaitua, kākara, miware, mitimiti, pūpū, ngārahu tatawa, ngārahu taua, peke, ataata, kaitangata, pūpū kōrama, pūpū atamarama, tihipu, tihi, tio para, tio repe, tipa, totoro, totorere, tuatua, tupa, toretore, ngākihi, ngaingai, kākahi, taiawa, rūharu, tūpere, kuhakuha, ngaere, ngākihi hahae, kukupara, ngākihi awaawa, kuku-mau-toka, ngākihi tea, niania, matangongore, matangārahu, maurea, mimiti, karehu, tītiko, ngāruru, ngaeti, papatua, karoro, waharoa, ururoa, wahanui, ngāeo, pipi, tūteure, ngākihi hiwihiwi, ngākihi kopia, papatai, hahari, hohehohe, hūai, kōmore, pātitotito, pātiotio, peraro, pūkauri, pūpū karikawa, pūpū harakeke, pūpū māeneene, pūpū tuatea, pūpū waharoa, pūpū waitai, pūtātara, purewha, pūrimu, ruheruhe, takarepo, takai, tākai, tūroro, piritoka, pōrohe, kahitua, angarite, awatai, hauwai, harihari, hihiwa, hinangi, hoehoe, hopetea, kāeo, whāngai karoro, pīpipi, pūpū rore, pūpū taratara, pāua, poro, tātara, pūpū tarataratea, whētiko, koio, kōrama, karariwha


4. (noun) white-breasted North Island tomtit, Petroica macrocephala toitoi - a little black-and-white bird with a large head and short tail. Lives in forest and scrub.


5. (noun) brown creeper, Mohoua novaeseelandiae - a small endemic forest bird of the South Island and Stewart Island, reddish-brown crown, rump and tail, ash-grey on face and neck, and light buff underparts. Usually found in small, fast-moving noisy flocks high in the canopy.

See also pīpipi

Synonyms: tītirihika, pipirihika, pīpipi

tītirihika

1. (noun) brown creeper, Mohoua novaeseelandiae - a small endemic forest bird of the South Island and Stewart Island, reddish-brown crown, rump and tail, ash-grey on face and neck, and light buff underparts. Usually found in small, fast-moving noisy flocks high in the canopy.

See also pīpipi

Synonyms: pipirihika, toitoi, pīpipi

tarepō

1. (noun) kākāpō, ground parrot, Strigops habroptilus - rare, large, green endemic parrot that is nocturnal and flightless. Now found only on islands off Stewart Island.

See also kākāpō

Synonyms: tarapō, tātarapō, kākātarapō

īnanga

1. (noun) inanga, whitebait, Galaxias maculatus - a small silvery-white native fish with a slender body. Found in streams, rivers, lakes, swamps and pools throughout the coastal regions of Aotearoa/New Zealand up to 215 km inland. Forms small to large schools. Maximum size 190 mm. Adults mature at 1 year and migrate downstream on new or full moons to spawn when the spring tide floods marginal vegetation. Eggs are left amongst the vegetation out of the water and hatch at the next spring tide.

Ko te hao hopu i ngā īnanga me ngā ngāore, he hiraka mā (HP 1991:17). / The net for catching whitebait and smelt was of white silk.

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2. (noun) a whitish, pale grey-green or creamy-coloured variety of greenstone.

Ko te pounamu tuatahi i kitea e ia, he īnanga; i kitea atu ki te īnanga ika nei, e tau ana mai i roto i te awa; kātahi ka tahuri ki te haohao, ka whātoro te ringa o Hine-te-uira-i-waho ki te wai, ka riro ake te kōwhatu hei punga mō te kupenga haohao, kia totohu ai ki roto i te wai. Ka kitea, e! he kōwhatu rerekē tēnei kōwhatu; ka kīia tēnā kōwhatu he īnanga (JPS 1913:113). / The first type of greenstone he saw was the kind called 'īnanga', because it was seen with īnanga the fish (whitebait), which he proceeded to catch. When Hine-te-uira-i-waho stretched out her hand into the water to get a stone as a sinker for the net, to sink it in the water, this stone was seen to be quite different, hence the name 'īnanga'.

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3. (noun) grass tree, Dracophyllum longifolium - a shrub from 1 m to 10 m tall with black, deeply fissured bark. Leaves are longitudinally channelled and minutely serrate. Found in the South Island and Stewart Island, except in eastern Nelson, Marlborough and Canterbury. Also known as īnaka.

patatē

1. (noun) seven finger, Schefflera digitata - a small forest tree which has hand-shaped leaves with fine teeth and three to nine 'fingers'. Flowers in large drooping stalks. A soft wood used in making fire. Found from North Island to Stewart Island in damp parts of the forest and along stream banks.

Koirā a ia i kī ai: 'Māku anō e hanga tōku nei whare. Ko te tāhuhu he hīnau ko ngā poupou he māhoe, patatē. Me whakatupu ki te hua o te rengarenga, me whakapakari ki te hua o te kawariki.' (TTR 1994:134). / That's why he said: 'I myself shall build my house. The ridge-pole will be of hīnau and the supporting posts of māhoe and patatē. Raise the people with the fruit of the rengarenga, strengthened them with the fruits of the kawariki.'

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Synonyms: patē, kōtētē, patete

Ara a Kewa, Te

1. (location) Foveaux Strait - the sea between the South Island and Stewart Island.

(Te Kākano Textbook (Ed. 2): 78;)

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