pounamu
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English
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
pounamu (uncountable)
- (New Zealand) Jade, nephrite.
- 1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 233:
- “They didn't exactly eat off pounamu plates, but they left quite a bit to us all.”
- 2021 December 6, Charlotte Graham-McLay, “In New Zealand, the Fishhook Pendant Called Hei Matau”, in The New York Times:
- Over time, the hooks became increasingly stylized and now are a popular shape for decorative pounamu pendants called hei matau, the first word indicating that the matau is worn around the neck.
See also
Hawaiian
Etymology
Noun
pounamu
Further reading
- pounamu in Combined Hawaiian Dictionary, at trussel2.com.
Maori
Etymology
Component namu “green-blue, grue” from Proto-Eastern Polynesian *namu (compare with Tahitian ninamu). (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Adjective
pounamu
Noun
pounamu
- greenstone, nephrite
- Synonym: pounemu
- glass bottle
Derived terms
- Te Waipounamu (“South Island”)
Descendants
References
- ^ Dodgson, Neil, Chen, Victoria, Zahido, Meimuna (2024 November) “The colonisation of the colour pink: variation and change in Māori’s colour lexicon”, in Linguistics, , page 9