Maori words every
New Zealander should know
Kupu o Te Reo Maori
Contents :-
New Zealand Coat of Arms
Tiriti o Waitangi - Treaty of Waitangi
Aotearoa - New Zealand
Tukutuku - Kupenga Kaokao pattern can represent the many bends of the Waikato river
E noho ra- Goodbye (from a person leaving)
E haere ra - Goodbye (from a person staying)
Haere mai - Welcome!, Come!
Hei kona ra -Goodbye (less formal)
Kia ora - Hi!, G'day! (general informal greeting)
Morena - (Good) morning!
Nau mai - Welcome! Come!
Tena koe - formal greeting to one person
Tena korua - formal greeting to two people
Tena koutou - formal greeting to many people
Tena tatou katoa - formal inclusive greeting to everybody present,
including oneself
Arero - tongue
Body Parts
Body - tinana
Bottom - nono
Ihu - nose
Kaki - neck
Kanohi - eye
Kauae, kauwae - chin
Kopu - womb
Mahunga - hair [when used for hair must always be used in plural,
indicated by nga (the, plural)], head
Manawa - heart
Niho - teeth
Poho - chest [also called uma ]
Puku - belly, stomach
Ringa - hand, arm
Taringa - ear
Toto - blood
Tuara - back
Turi - knee [also known as pona ]
Upoko - head
Waha - mouth
Waewae - foot, feet, leg, legs
People and their groups
Ariki
- person of high inherited rank
from senior lines of descent, male or female
Hapu - clan, tribe, independent section of a people; modern usage
- sub-tribe; to be born
Iwi - people, nation; modern usage - tribe; bones
Kaumatua -elder or elders, senior people in a kin group
Ngai Tatou - a way of referring to everyone present - we all
Pakeha - this word is not an insult; its derivation is obscure;
it is the Maori word for people living in New Zealand of British/European
origin; originally it would not have included, for example, Dalmatians,
Italians, Greeks, Indians, Chinese etc.
Rangatira - person of chiefly rank, boss, owner
Tama - son, young man, youth
Tamahine - daughter
Tamaiti -one child
Tamariki -children
Tane - man, husband, men, husbands
Teina/taina - junior relative, younger brother of a brother, younger
sister of a sister
Tipuna/tupuna - ancestor
Tuahine - sister of a man
Tuakana - senior relative, older brother of a brother, older sister
of a sister
Tungane - brother of a sister
Wahine - woman, wife (wahine women, wives)
Waka - canoe, canoe group (all the iwi and hapu descended from
the crew of a founding waka)
Whangai -fostered or adopted child, young person
Whanau - extended or non-nuclear family
Whanaunga - kin, relatives
Ordinary geographical features such as hills, rivers, cliffs, streams, mountains, and the coast, and adjectives describing them, such as small, big, little, and long are to be found in many place names; here is a list so you can recognise them:
Au - current
Awa - river
Iti - small, little
Kai - one of the meanings of kai is food; in a place name it signifies
a place where a particular food source was plentiful e.g. Kaikoura, the
place where crayfish (koura) abounded and were eaten
Mania - plain
Manga - stream
Maunga - mountain
Moana - sea, or large inland 'sea' e.g. Taupo
Motu - island
Nui - large, big
o - means 'of' (so does a, a); many names begin with o, meaning
the place of so-and-so e.g. okahukura, okiwi, ohau etc.
One - sand, earth
Pae - ridge, range
Papa - flat
Poto - short
Puke - hill
Roa - long
Roto - lake; inside
Tai - coast, tide
Wai - water
Whanga - harbour, bay
The marae
Hui - a meeting of any kind, conference, gathering
Marae - the area for formal discourse in front of a meeting house,
or applied to a whole marae complex, including meeting house, dining hall,
forecourt etc.
Haere mai! - Welcome! Enter!
Nau mai! - Welcome!
Tangihanga - funeral ceremonies, when body is mourned on a marae
Tangi - short (verbal version) for the above, or to cry, to mourn
Karanga - the ceremony of calling to the guests to welcome them
to enter the marae
Manuhiri - guests, visitors
Tangata whenua - original people belonging to a place, local people,
hosts
Whaikorero - the art and practise of speech-making
Kaikorero or kaiwhai korero - speaker (there are many other
terms)
Haka - chant with dance for the purpose of challenge; see an example
of a haka dance from the 1939/40 Centennial Exhibition film
Waiata - song or chant which follows speech
Koha - gift, present (usually money, can be food or precious items,
given by guest to hosts)
Whare nui - meeting house; in writing this is sometimes run together
as one word - wharenui
Whare whakairo - carved meeting house
Whare kai - dining hall
Whare paku - lavatory, toilet
Whare horoi - ablution block, bathroom
Concepts
Aroha - compassion, tenderness, sustaining love
Ihi - power, authority, essential force
Mana - authority, power; secondary meaning: reputation, influence
Manaakitanga - respect for hosts, or kindness to guests, to entertain,
to look after
Mauri - hidden essential life force or a symbol of this
Noa - safe from tapu (see below), non-sacred, not tabooed
Raupatu - confiscate, take by force
Rohe - boundary, a territory (either geographical or spiritual)
of an iwi or hapu
Taihoa - to delay, to wait, to hold off to allow maturation of
plans etc.
Tapu - sacred, not to be touched, to be avoided because sacred,
taboo
Tiaki - to care for, look after, guard (kaitiaki - guardian, trustee)
Taonga - treasured possessions or cultural items, anything precious
Tino rangatiratanga - the highest possible independent chiefly
authority, paramount authority, sometimes used for sovereignty
Turangawaewae - a place to stand, a place to belong to, a seat
or location of identity
Wehi - to be held in awe
Whakapapa - genealogy, to recite genealogy, to establish kin connections
Whenua - land, homeland, country; also afterbirth, placenta
Pirairaka
Kereru 
Kokako
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Hihi
Nga
Manu - Birds
Turoa - albatross
Korimako - bellbird
Koekoea - long-tailed cuckoo
Pipiwharauroa - shining cuckoo
Whio - blue duck
Karearea - NZ falcon
Piwakawaka or Pirairaka (Waikato) - fantail
Matata - fernbird
Tarapunga - black-billed gull
Karoro - Southern black-billed gull
Kahu - Australasian harrier
Kotuku - white heron
Kereru - NZ wood pigeon
Kotare - kingfisher
Ruru - morepork
Kakariki - parakeet
Korora - blue penguin
Hoiho - yellow-eyed penguin
Titipounamu - rifleman
Toutouwai - NZ robin
Tieke - saddleback
Tauhou - silvereye
Hihi - stitchbird
Warou - welcome swallow
Popokatea - whitehead
Hurupounamu - rock wren
Mohua - yellowhead
Tui
Pekapeka - bat
Tupoupou - Hectors dolphin
Whakahao - NZ sea lion
Ihu koropuka - elephant seal
Kekeno - NZ fur seal
Maki - orca (killer whale)
Pararoa - sperm whale
Tohora - Southern right whale
Mako - shark
Pekepeke - frog
Mokopapa - gecko or skink
Pungawerewere - spider
Taniwha 
Harakeke
Kowhai 
Rimu
Ti kouka - cabbage tree
Horoeke - lancewood
Harakeke - flax
Kahikatea - white pine
Kanuka and Manuka - tea tree
Kotukutuku - native fuchsia
Houhere - lacebark
Mahoe - whiteywood
Makomako - wineberry
Manatu - ribbonwood
Manawa - mangrove
Matai - black pine
Miro - brown pine
Neinei - spiderwood
Ongaonga - tree nettle
Papauma - broadleaf
Puahou - five finger
Rewarewa - NZ honeysuckle
Rimu - red pine
Tawhairaunui - red beech
Tanekaha - celery pine
Tarata - lemonwood
