Te Wiki o Te Reo Māori or Māori language week is being celebrated around the country this week.
In celebration of the language, New Zealand History has released a list of 100 Māori words that every New Zealander should know and be comfortable pronouncing.
Former Māori Party leader Pita Sharples told The AM Show New Zealanders are not doing enough to keep the language alive despite the benefits it would bring to the country.
"It would be great for New Zealand, everyone would be happy talking in Māori."
Dr Sharples said making Māori compulsory in school isn't only thing that needs to be done to grow the language, it'd be an indictment on the country if the language isn't grown.
100 Māori words every Kiwi should know
The Marae
Hui - meeting, conference, gathering
Marae - the area for formal discourse in front of a meeting house; or the whole marae complex, including meeting house, dining hall, forecourt, etc.
Haere mai! - Welcome! Enter!
Nau mai! - Welcome!
Tangihanga - funeral ceremony in which a body is mourned on a marae
Tangi - short (verbal version) for the above; or to cry, to mourn
Karanga - the ceremony of calling to the guests to welcome them onto the marae
Manuhiri - guests, visitors
Tangata whenua - original people belonging to a place, local people, hosts
Whaikōrero - the art and practice of speech making
Kaikōrero or kaiwhai korero - speaker (there are many other terms)
Haka - chant with dance for the purpose of challenge (see other references to haka on this site)
Waiata - song or chant which follows a speech
Koha - gift, present (usually money, can be food or precious items, given by guest to hosts)
Whare nui - meeting house; sometimes run together as one word wharenui
Whare whakairo - carved meeting house
Whare kai - dining hall
Whare paku - lavatory, toilet
Whare horoi - ablution block, bathroom
Concepts
Aroha - compassion, tenderness, sustaining love
Ihi - power, authority, essential force
Mana - authority, power; secondary meaning: reputation, influence
Manaakitanga - respect for hosts or kindness to guests, to entertain, to look after
Mauri - hidden essential life force or a symbol of this
Noa - safe from tapu (see below), non-sacred, not tabooed
Raupatu - confiscate, take by force
Rohe - boundary, a territory (either geographical or spiritual) of an iwi or hapā
Taihoa - to delay, to wait, to hold off to allow maturation of plans, etc.
Tapu - sacred, not to be touched, to be avoided because sacred, taboo
Tiaki - to care for, look after, guard (kaitiaki: guardian, trustee)
Taonga - treasured possession or cultural item, anything precious
Tino rangatiratanga - the highest possible independent chiefly authority, paramount authority, sometimes used for sovereignty
Tūrangawaewae - a place to stand, a place to belong to, a seat or location of identity
Wehi - to be held in awe
Whakapapa - genealogy, to recite genealogy, to establish kin connections
Whenua - land, homeland, country (also afterbirth, placenta)
People and their groups
Ariki - male or female of high inherited rank from senior line of descent
Hapū - clan, tribe, independent section of a people (modern usage sub-tribe); pregnant
Iwi - people, nation (modern usage tribe); bones
Kaumātua - elder or elders, senior people in a kin group
Ngāi Tātou - a term for everyone present 'we all'
Pākehā - this word is not an insult; its derivation is obscure; it is the Māori word for people living in New Zealand of British/European origin; originally it would not have included, for example, Dalmatians, Italians, Greeks, Indians, and Chines
Rangatira - person of chiefly rank, boss, owner
Tama - son, young man, youth
Tamāhine - daughter
Tamaiti - one child
Tamariki - children
Tāne - man/men, husband(s)
Teina/taina - junior relative, younger brother of a brother, younger sister of a sister
Tipuna/tupuna - ancestor
Tuahine - sister of a man
Tuakana - senior relative, older brother of a brother, older sister of a sister
Tungāne - brother of a sister
Wāhine - woman, wife (wāhine: women, wives)
Waka - canoe, canoe group (all the iwi and hapū descended from the crew of a founding waka)
Whāngai - fostered or adopted child, young person
Whānau - extended or non-nuclear family; to be born
Whanaunga - kin, relatives
Components of place names
Au - current
Awa - river
Iti - small, little
Kai - in a place name, this signifies a place where a particular food source was plentiful, e.g., Kaikōura, the place where crayfish (kōura) abounded and were eaten
Manga - stream
Mānia- plain
Maunga - mountain
Moana - sea, or large inland 'sea', e.g., Taupō
Motu - island
Nui - large, big
Ō - or o means ‘of’ (so does a, ā); many names begin with Ō, meaning the place of so-and-so, e.g., Ōkahukura, Ōkiwi, Ōhau
One - sand, earth
Pae - ridge, range
Papa - flat
Poto - short
Puke - hill
Roa - long
Roto - lake; inside
Tai - coast, tide
Wai - water
Whanga - harbour, bay
Greetings
E noho rā- Goodbye (from a person leaving)
Haere rā - Goodbye (from a person staying)
Haere mai - Welcome! Come!
Hei konā rā- Goodbye (less formal)
Kia ora - Hi! G’day! (general informal greeting)
Morena- (Good) morning!
Nau mai - Welcome! Come!
Tēnā koe- formal greeting to one person
Tēnā kōrua - formal greeting to two people
Tēnā koutou - formal greeting to many people
Tēnā tātou katoa - formal inclusive greeting to everybody present, including
Body parts
Arero - tongue
Ihu - nose
Kakī - neck
Kauae - chin (also kauwae)
Kōpū - womb
Māhunga - (also makawe) hair (always plural, indicated by ngā [the, plural]); also head
Manawa - heart
Niho - teeth
Poho - chest (also uma)
Puku - belly, stomach
Raho - testicles
Ringa - hand, arm
Tenetene (also tara) - vagina
Toto - blood
Tou - anus
Turi - knee (also pona)
Tūtae - excrement, ordure
ū - breast (breast-milk is waiā)
Māhunga - head
Ure - penis
Waewae - foot/feet, leg/legs
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