tangata whenua
1. (verb) (-tia) to be natural, at home, comfortable.
Ki te tīmata mai te ako i te reo i te wā e nohinohi tonu ana ngā tamariki, ka kōrero Māori ngā tamariki rā, ka mau, ā, ka tangata whenua te reo ki roto i a rātou. / If learning the language begins when children are little, those children will speak Māori and the language will be natural to them.
2. (verb) (-tia) to be naturalised, acclimatise, established, adapted.
Ko tēnei rākau kua tangata whenuatia ki ēnei motu (TTT 1/9/1922:7). / This tree has become naturalized in these islands.
3. (noun) local people, hosts, indigenous people - people born of the whenua, i.e. of the placenta and of the land where the people's ancestors have lived and where their placenta are buried.
Ko te tangata whenua te hunga pupuri i te mana o tētahi whenua (Te Ara 2013). / The tangata whenua are the people who have authority in a particular place.
Synonyms: iwi kāinga, haukāinga
