iwi
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of iwi
Māori, literally: bone(s)
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Luxon announced in December that he would not be at Waitangi - choosing instead to celebrate the day in the South Island with its largest tribe - or iwi in Māori - Ngāi Tahu.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2025
Eventually, New Zealand’s government faced the country’s iwi, or tribes, over the colonial theft of their land.
From National Geographic ● Oct. 4, 2023
Three weeks after wildfires burned through Lahaina, the search for human bones — or iwi, as they are known in Hawaiian — has wrapped up, and officials are shifting to clearing toxic debris.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2023
A spokeswoman for Ngai Tahu, the main iwi of New Zealand’s South Island, said it had nothing to do with the incident.
From New York Times ● Oct. 26, 2022
Rev. W. W. Gill tells me that the Maori word for bone is iwi, but he suspects a foreign origin for the fable founded on it.52.Tree and Serpent Worship, by James Fergusson.
From Chips From A German Workshop, Vol. V. Miscellaneous Later Essays by Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
