List of English words of Polynesian origin

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The following words used in English exist as loanwords from one or more Polynesian languages.

Words from Hawaiian and Māori are listed separately at List of English words of Hawaiian origin and List of English words of Māori origin respectively.

Kava
An intoxicating drink made from plant roots. From Tongan.
Mai Tai
An alcoholic drink made from rum, curaçao, lime juice, orgeat syrup, and simple syrup. From Tahitian "maita'i", meaning 'good' supposedly from a quote by Carrie Guild, a Tahitian, who, after sampling the drink at Trader Vic's bar in Oakland, said "Maita'i roa ae" meaning 'exceedingly good'.
Taboo
A social and/or spiritual prohibition. From Tongan "Tapu". Loanwords were acquired during Captain James Cook's voyages.
Tamure
a dance. From Tahitian.
Tapa
Bark cloth used for loincloths (Maro), turbans (Pare), kilts (Pāreu) and Cook Island Māori/Tahitian ponchos (Tīputa). From Tahitian and Cook Island Māori. Commonly used to refer to Tongan, Samoan and Niuean bark cloth (Ngatu/Hiapo/Siapo) which differs from Tapa in that it is thicker, produced differently with different materials, colorfully dyed and highly decorated with patterns and pictures.
Tattoo
a form of body modification using indelible inks. From Tahitian Tatau.
Tiki
Carving in humanoid form. From various Eastern Polynesian languages.
Tu'i
Tribal chieftain. From Tongan.

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Hawaiian is a Polynesian language and critically endangered language of the Austronesian language family that takes its name from Hawaiʻi, the largest island in the tropical North Pacific archipelago where it developed. Hawaiian, along with English, is an official language of the US state of Hawaii. King Kamehameha III established the first Hawaiian-language constitution in 1839 and 1840.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polynesian languages</span> Language family

The Polynesian languages form a genealogical group of languages, itself part of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family.

Tapu is a Polynesian traditional concept denoting something holy or sacred, with "spiritual restriction" or "implied prohibition"; it involves rules and prohibitions. The English word taboo derives from this later meaning and dates from Captain James Cook's visit to Tonga in 1777.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pākehā</span> Māori term for non-Māori or White New Zealanders

Pākehā is a Māori-language term that has been adopted in English, particularly New Zealand English, for a New Zealander who has no Polynesian ethnic ancestry, or specifically for a European New Zealander. Most inclusively, the term can apply to any non-Māori New Zealander. It is not a legal term and has no definition under New Zealand law. Papa'a has a similar meaning in Cook Islands Māori.

In Polynesian mythology, Hawaiki is the original home of the Polynesians, before dispersal across Polynesia. It also features as the underworld in many Māori stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samoan language</span> Austronesian language of the Samoan Islands

Samoan is a Polynesian language spoken by Samoans of the Samoan Islands. Administratively, the islands are split between the sovereign country of Samoa and the United States territory of American Samoa. It is an official language, alongside English, in both jurisdictions. It is widely spoken across the Pacific region, heavily so in New Zealand and also in Australia and the United States. Among the Polynesian languages, Samoan is the most widely spoken by number of native speakers.

Polynesians are an ethnolinguistic group of closely related ethnic groups who are native to Polynesia, an expansive region of Oceania in the Pacific Ocean. They trace their early prehistoric origins to Island Southeast Asia and form part of the larger Austronesian ethnolinguistic group with an Urheimat in Taiwan. They speak the Polynesian languages, a branch of the Oceanic subfamily of the Austronesian language family. The Indigenous Māori people constitute the largest Polynesian population, followed by Samoans, Native Hawaiians, Tahitians, Tongans and Cook Islands Māori.

Tongan is an Austronesian language of the Polynesian branch native to the island nation of Tonga. It has around 187,000 speakers. It uses the word order verb–subject–object.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kapa</span> Barkcloth made by Native Hawaiians

Kapa is a fabric made by native Hawaiians from the bast fibres of certain species of trees and shrubs in the orders Rosales and Malvales. The bark is beaten and felted to achieve a soft texture and dye stamped in geometric patterns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lavalava</span> Rectangular clothing traditionally worn by Oceanic peoples

A lavalava, sometime written as lava-lava, ie and a lava lava are 2 similar but different things.'ie,Polynesians and other Oceanic peoples. It consists of a single rectangular cloth worn similarly to a wraparound skirt or kilt. The term lavalava is both singular and plural in the Samoan language.

Polynesian culture is the culture of the indigenous peoples of Polynesia who share common traits in language, customs and society. The development of Polynesian culture is typically divided into four different historical eras:

Cook Islands Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language that is the official language of the Cook Islands. Cook Islands Māori is closely related to New Zealand Māori, but is a distinct language in its own right. Cook Islands Māori is simply called Māori when there is no need to disambiguate it from New Zealand Māori, but it is also known as Māori Kūki ʻĀirani or, controversially, Rarotongan. Many Cook Islanders also call it Te reo Ipukarea, literally "the language of the Ancestral Homeland".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tapa cloth</span> Barkcloth made in the island cultures of the Pacific Ocean

Tapa cloth is a barkcloth made in the islands of the Pacific Ocean, primarily in Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, but as far afield as Niue, Cook Islands, Futuna, Solomon Islands, Java, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Hawaii. In French Polynesia it has nearly disappeared, except for some villages in the Marquesas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paper mulberry</span> Species of plant

The paper mulberry is a species of flowering plant in the family Moraceae. It is native to Asia, where its range includes mainland China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, Myanmar, and India. It is widely cultivated elsewhere and it grows as an introduced species in New Zealand, parts of Europe, the United States, and Africa. Other common names include tapa cloth tree.

Palagi or papalagi (plural) is a term in Samoan culture of uncertain etymology, sometimes used to describe foreigners.

Tuamotuan, Paʻumotu or Paumotu is a Polynesian language spoken by 4,000 people in the Tuamotu archipelago, with an additional 2,000 speakers in Tahiti.

Mangareva, Mangarevan is a Polynesian language spoken by about 600 people in the Gambier Islands of French Polynesia and by Mangarevians emigrants on the islands of Tahiti and Moorea, located 1,650 kilometres (1,030 mi) to the North-West of the Gambier Islands.

The Penrhyn language is a Cook Islands Maori dialectal variant belonging to the Polynesian language family. It is spoken by about 200 people on Penrhyn Island and other islands in the Northern Cook Islands. It is considered to be an endangered language as many of its users are shifting to Cook Islands Māori and English.

Bible translations into Oceanic languages have a relatively closely related and recent history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tahitian Dog</span> Extinct Polynesian dog breed

The Tahitian Dog is an extinct breed of dog from Tahiti and the Society Islands. Similar to other strains of Polynesian dogs, it was introduced to the Society Islands and Tahiti by the ancestors of the Tahitian (Mā’ohi) people during their migrations to Polynesia.

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