wahine · noun — A Polynesian or Maori woman.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
wahine is pronounced /wɑːˈhiːnɪ/.
Why “wahine” is a great word
A woman, particularly of Polynesian (Māori or Hawaiian) origin or a female surfer. Borrowed from Māori wahine ("woman"), from Proto-Polynesian *fafine ("woman"), entering English in the late 18th century. Unlike "woman"—a generic, geography-less term—or "surfer girl"—a casual modern coinage—wahine carries the specific weight of its oceanic origins; salt still clings to its syllables. It is the carved prow of a double-hulled canoe, the low hum of a waiata above the wind, the steady gaze of a body reading the swell; a word that traveled vast water to find its meaning, that holds within its breath an entire island's past and its living, fluid present.
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Etymology
Borrowed from Māori wahine (“woman”), from Proto-Polynesian *fafine.
noun
- A Polynesian or Maori woman.e.g.“I wanna be with all the kanes and wahines that I knew long ago” — 1933, Tommy Harrison, Bill Cogswell, Johnny Noble, My Little Grass Shack in Kealakekua, Hawaii:
- A female surfer.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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