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Idioms

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Loan words

Historical loan words

tangata

1. (verb) (-tia) to be a person, man, human being, individual.

Kua tangata, kua wahine pakari ā-tinana, ā-wairua, ā-hinengaro (Rewi 2005:43). / It has become a man or woman that is mature in body, spirit and mind.
He maha ngā tau i muri mai, kua tangatatia te tamaiti nei (NIT 1995:209). / Many years later this child had become a man.

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Synonyms: tuatangata, , tāne, kōhī, kiri, tinana, tuakiri, tawhiti, whaiaro, kōiwi


2. (modifier) human, individual.

I whakanonoi tonu ia i tōna mana tangata ki āna wāhine punarua, ki a Matairena rāua ko Kararaina (TTR 1994:39). / He insisted on his individual right to have his two wives, Matairena, and Kararaina.

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3. (noun) person, man, human being, individual.

E kore pea te tangata e whakapono ki te kīia atu e 640 māero te tere o taua whetū i te hēkene kotahi (TP 1/6/1901:11). / A person would probably never believe it if it was said that the speed of that comet was 640 miles per second.

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