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• tonga
  tonga

  noun

  a light, two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle used in India.
• Tonga
  Tonga

  noun

  a Polynesian kingdom consisting of three groups of islands in the S Pacific, NE of New Zealand: a former British protectorate. About 270 sq. mi. (700 sq. km). Nukualofa.

tonga

¹ American  

[tong-guh] / ˈtɒŋ gə /

noun

1. a light, two-wheeled, horse-drawn vehicle used in India.

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Tonga ² American  

[tong-guh] / ˈtɒŋ gə /

noun

1. a Polynesian kingdom consisting of three groups of islands in the S Pacific, NE of New Zealand: a former British protectorate. About 270 sq. mi. (700 sq. km). Nukualofa.

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Tonga ¹ British  

/ ˈtɒŋə, ˈtɒŋɡə /

noun

1. a member of a Negroid people of S central Africa, living chiefly in Zambia and Zimbabwe

2. the language of this people, belonging to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo family

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Tonga ² British  

/ ˈtɒŋə, ˈtɒŋɡə /

noun

1. Also called: Friendly Islands.  a kingdom occupying an archipelago of more than 150 volcanic and coral islands in the SW Pacific, east of Fiji: inhabited by Polynesians; became a British protectorate in 1900 and gained independence in 1970; a member of the Commonwealth. Official languages: Tongan and English. Religion: Christian majority. Currency: pa'anga. Capital: Nuku'alofa. Pop: 106 322 (2013 est). Area: 750 sq km (290 sq miles)

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tonga ³ British  

/ ˈtɒŋɡə /

noun

1. a light two-wheeled vehicle used in rural areas of India

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Etymology

Origin of tonga

First recorded in 1870–75, tonga is from the Hindi word tāṅgā

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tonga Tonga

I suppose their might be a risk of some of the potential GB players competing for their home countries - tonga, samoa, south africa, new zealand, holland etc. but i'm sure it'll be good.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 7, 2012

"Na, na, damchee, na, na, damchee! " wailed the tongawalla to a British officer, who was trying to rent his two-wheeled tonga at an air base in India.

From Time Magazine Archive

Revolving these things in his mind, together with one or two stories of extravagances not quite fit for publication, the Englishman came to Nasirabad, before sunrise, and there to an evil-looking tonga.

From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling

It was an aram tonga, a tonga for ease.

From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling

"We shall get to Deoli in six hours," said Ram Baksh the boastful, and, even as he spoke, the spring of the tonga bar snapt "mit a harp-like melodious twang."

From From Sea to Sea Letters of Travel by Rudyard Kipling

"She has led major international initiatives on sustainable development and dialog among cultures, bridging Latin America, the Arab world, Africa and Europe," Tonga wrote.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

The second encounter occurred during a 2024 expedition to the Tonga Trench aboard the R/V Dagon as part of the Inkfish Open Ocean Expedition, led by scientists from the Minderoo-UWA Deep-Sea Research Center.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 8, 2026

Tonga Nolan grew up in a predominantly Black neighborhood on the north side of Baton Rouge and remembers it fondly as a tight-knit community.

From Salon ● May 10, 2026

We spent years leaving medical records scattered from Tonga to Iceland; it’s time for a bit more continuity of care.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 2026

Similar epidemics marked the histories of Tonga, Hawaii, and other Pacific islands.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond