kawakawa

kawakawa

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Maori kawakawa.

Noun

kawakawa (countable and uncountable, plural kawakawas)

1. Alternative form of kiwikiwi (“star fern”)
2. A fish, Euthynnus affinis, the false albacore.
3. Piper excelsum (syn. Macropiper excelsum), a shrub endemic to New Zealand.

Translations

Euthynnus affinis

Dhivehi: ލައްޓި‎ (laṭṭi) Indonesian: tongkol (id) Tagalog: tulingang-puti

---

Maori

Etymology

From its supposed resemblance to Proto-Polynesian *kawa (“bitter ginger; bitter; kava”), duplicated to indicate similarity (thus, cognate with Hawaiian ʻawa, Tongan kava and Samoan ʻava).[1][2] Further derived from Proto-Oceanic *kawaʀ (“potent root”) metathesis of Proto-Oceanic *wakaʀ, thus doublet of aka (“root”).

Noun

kawakawa

1. kawakawa (Piper excelsum), a shrub endemic to New Zealand.

Related terms

• kawa

References

1. Tregear, Edward (1891) Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary‎, Wellington, New Zealand: Lyon and Blair, page 139
2. “Kawa, Kawakawa”, in Te Māra Reo‎, Benson Family Trust, 2023

---

Maranao

Noun

kawakawa

1. loose soil