Glossary of New Zealand and Māori Terms used in the book

A.C.C Accident Compensation Commission. New Zealand Government department that deals with compensation for physical injury by accident.

Ahua: form or appearance

Te Ao Māori: The Māori world

Aroha: Love

Cuzzies: slang for relations

Dance Exponants: Kiwi Band

Haere ki te...: Go to the

Hākari: feast

Hāngi: earth oven

Hapu: wider whānau

Harakeke: New Zealand flax

Heru: carved bone comb for hair

Housing corp: New Zealand government department

responsible for housing

Hua: colloquial term, adds emphasis to a statement

Iho: flowing through, coming in, spiritual essense



 Kai: food, to eat

Karanga: formal call, (summon, welcome)

Ka pai: good

Karakia: incantation

kauae moko: tattoo on chin, lips and sometimes forehead

Kaumatua: elder

Kēhua: ghost

300 301

Koro: old man

Korowai: cloak

Kuia: old woman

Macrocarpa: tree grown on farms to shelter animals

Makutu: curse

Mana: authority, prestige

Manuka: tea tree

Matakite: one who foresees an events

Mimi: urinate

Moko(puna) : grandchild (mokopuna)

Otago: region in the south of the South Island (Ōtākou)

Pākehā: New Zealander of European descent

Panekoti: overskirt to wear over trousers for Pōwhiri

Pāua: abalone

Pito: navel

Pommy: Kiwi slang for British immigrant

Pōrangi: crazy

Pōwhiri: welcome ceremony

Pūkana: stare widely

Rauru: umbilical cord

Ringawera: kitchen workers

Rimu: red pine

Ruru: Morepork

Spliff: marijuana cigarette

Swandri: Kiwi brand of heavy woollen shirt

Tahi, rua, toru, wha: one, two, three, four (whā)

Tangi(hanga): funeral

Tapu: sacred

Taonga: anything highly prized.

Taupo: town and lake in the centre of the North Island

of New Zealand

Tiki Tane: NZ singer/entertainer

Tino ātaahua koe: you are very beautiful

Toke: puff on a marijuana cigarette

Tui: parson bird

Waharoa front entrance to a Marae

Wairua: spirit, spiritual side (Wairuatanga) spirituallity

Whaea: aunt, mum

Whakapapa: liniage

Whānau: family

Whāngai: foster or adopt

Wharekai: dining hall

Wharenui: big house, meeting house

Wharepaku: toilet

Whare tipuna: ancestral house.

This glossary gives meanings that are familiar to the writer and her

whānau.