pounamu means jade, nephrite. It carries an Arena rating of 1361, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, pounamu ranks #817 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #1,381 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,501 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #3,695 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words.
Why “pounamu” is a great word
A highly treasured nephrite jade indigenous to New Zealand, esteemed in Māori culture for its toughness, aesthetic allure, and profound spiritual resonance. A borrowing from Māori pounamu. Unlike "jade"—a broad, mineralogical category—or the ambiguous, often geological "greenstone," pounamu is a name tethered to a specific land and a singular cultural cosmology. It is the cold, dense weight of a *mere* polished to a deep, riverine green, the intricate curve of a *hei tiki* warmed against the skin, and the translucent glow of a toki blade that once felled giants. To hold pounamu is to hold a piece of the whenua, a geology made sacred through touch, tradition, and time.
Etymology
Borrowed from Māori pounamu.
noun
- Jade, nephrite.e.g.““They didn't exactly eat off pounamu plates, but they left quite a bit to us all.”” — 1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 233:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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