whakawahine
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word whakawahine. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word whakawahine, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say whakawahine in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word whakawahine you have here. The definition of the word whakawahine will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofwhakawahine, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: whakawāhine
Maori
Etymology
From whaka- + wahine (“woman”). Cognate with Samoan fa'afafine.
Noun
whakawahine (irregular plural whakawāhine)
- a person assigned male at birth who lives and behaves as a female socially; literally "to become a woman"
- Coordinate term: tangata ira tāne
- 2019 August 31, Alan Weedon, “Fa'afafine, fakaleitī, fakafifine — understanding the Pacific's alternative gender expressions”, in ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (in English), retrieved 2020-05-31:
- In Samoa, people assigned male at birth who live as women are known as fa'afafine, which literally translates to "in the fashion of a woman". Similar identities to fa'afafine are found in Tonga (fakaleitī or leitī), Fiji (vaka sa lewa lewa), Niue (fakafifine), Kiribati and Tuvalu (pinapinaaine) and the Cook Islands (akava'ine).
Verb
whakawahine
- to become a woman
References
- “whakawahine” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.