kowhai

American  

[koh-wahy] / ˈkoʊ waɪ /

noun

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

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kowhai British  

/ ˈkəʊfaɪ, ˈkəʊwaɪ /

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of kowhai

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

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:

From Salon • Aug. 22, 2022

I remembered Anna Jackson with the kowhai flower.

From Salon • Aug. 22, 2022

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

From The Long White Cloud by Reeves, William Pember

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.

From An Anthology of Australian Verse by Stevens, Bertram

The Bush Babies come out of the kowhai flowers.

From Piccaninnies by Peacocke, Isabel Maud