Phrase Drills - 50 Māori words every New Zealander should know
Free Māori Language Lessons providing the basics in Te Reo Māori
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Here are the 50 Māori words every New Zealander should know. If you don't know them, you should get to learn them.
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Aotearoa
(New Zealand, long white cloud)
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aroha
(love)
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awa
(river)
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haka
(generic term for Māori dance.
)
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hāngi
(traditional feast prepared in earth oven)
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hapū
(clan, sub-tribe; to be born )
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hīkoi
(walk)
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hui
(gathering, meeting)
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iti
(small)
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iwi
(tribe)
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kai
(food)
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karakia
(prayer)
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kaumatua
(elder)
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kauri
(large native conifer)
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kiwi
(native flightless bird)
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koha
(gift, present (usually money, can be food or precious items, given by guest to hosts) )
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kōhanga reo
(language nest, Maori immersion pre-school (0 to 4 years))
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mahi
(work or activity)
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mana
(prestige, reputation)
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manuhiri
(guests, visitors)
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Māori
(indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand, the language of the indigenous inhabitants of New Zealand)
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marae
(the area for formal discourse in front of a meeting house, or applied to a whole marae complex)
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maunga
(mountain)
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moa
(extinct large flightless bird)
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moana
(sea)
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motu
(island)
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nui
(large, many, big)
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pā
(hill fort)
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Pākehā
(New Zealander of non-Māori descent, usually European)
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pounamu
(greenstone, jade)
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puku
(belly, stomach)
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rangatira
(person of chiefly rank, boss )
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taihoa
(to delay, to wait, to hold off to allow maturation of plans etc. )
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tama
(son, young man, youth)
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tamāhine
(daughter)
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tamariki
(children)
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tāne
(man, husband, men, husbands)
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tangi
(funeral)
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taonga
(treasured possessions or cultural items, anything precious)
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tapu
(sacred, not to be touched, to be avoided because sacred, taboo)
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te reo Māori
(the Māori Language)
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tipuna/ tupuna
(ancestor )
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tuatara
(lizard like reptile)
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wahine
(woman, wife)
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wai
(water)
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waiata
(song or chant)
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waka
(canoe, canoe group)
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whaikōrero
(the art and practise of speech-making )
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whakapapa
(genealogy, to recite genealogy )
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whānau
(extended family)
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whenua
(land, homeland)
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