kowhai

[koh-wahy]

noun

1. a New Zealand tree, Sophora tetraptera, of the legume family, having clusters of golden-yellow flowers.

kowhai

/ ˈkəʊfaɪ, ˈkəʊwaɪ /

noun

1. a small leguminous tree, Sophora tetraptera, of New Zealand and Chile, with clusters of yellow flowers

Word History and Origins

Origin of kowhai¹

First recorded in 1825–35, kowhai is from the Maori word kō(w)hai

Word History and Origins

Origin of kowhai¹

C19: from Māori

Example Sentences

Jackson came across a "piece of the world" that was also an element of Mansfield's journal – a kowhai flower between two pages in a notebook:

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The Bush Babies come out of the kowhai flowers.

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The yellow kowhai, seen on the hillsides, shows the russet tint of autumn at the height of spring-time.

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There are dreams in the gold of the kowhai, and when ratas are breaking   in bloom I can hear the rich murmur of voices in the deeps of the fern-shadowed gloom.

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I remembered Anna Jackson with the kowhai flower.

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