kai

See also Kai, käi, και, καί, kāi, kǎi, and kài

English

Etymology

Maori

Noun

kai (uncountable)

1. (New Zealand, informal) food
   • 1995, Graeme Williams, The soc.culture.new-zealand FAQ

     Actually, I'm not sure I like these new hangis using the foil, it tends to stop the juices getting through to the stones and I reckon the hangi kai is drier to the palate.

   • 2003, "RK", Maori TV (on newsgroup nz.general)

     i.e. they'll spend the first four hours enthusiastic as can be, then get bored, want some kai, go down to the local fish and chip shop & bottle store & spend the rest of the episode telling drunken stories of how they used to steal from the "pakeha that owned the store on the corner" and about days spent down at the social welfare office.

   • 2003, "Carmen", Is there really a censor in NZ?! (on newsgroup nz.general)

     Got to go now and get some kai.

---

Estonian

Noun

kai (genitive kai, partitive kaid)

1. quay

Declension

Declension of kai (type koi)

	singular	plural
nominative	kai	kaid
genitive	kai	kaide
partitive	kaid	kaisid
illative	kaisse	kaidesse
inessive	kais	kaides
elative	kaist	kaidest
allative	kaile	kaidele
adessive	kail	kaidel
ablative	kailt	kaidelt
translative	kaiks	kaideks
terminative	kaini	kaideni
essive	kaina	kaidena
abessive	kaita	kaideta
comitative	kaiga	kaidega

---

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA: [kɑi]
• Rhymes: -ɑi
• Hyphenation: kai

Adverb

kai

1. probably
2. maybe, perhaps

Anagrams

• Aki

---

Hawaiian

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic (compare Indonesian tasik (“lake”), Chamorro tasi (“sea”), Fijian and Maori tai).

Noun

kai

1. salt water

See also

• wai
• moana

---

Japanese

Noun

kai (hiragana かい)

1. 貝: shell
2. 階: story, floor
3. 界: world
4. 海: ocean/sea

Particle

kai (hiragana かい)

1. かい: (familiar) marks a non-rhetorical question, which expects a 'yes' or a 'no' answer, a variant of question particle か (“ka”)

   元気かい？

   げんきかい？

   Genki kai?

   Are you fine?

   あの女の子に気があるのかい。

   あのおんなのこにきがあるのかい。

   Ano onna no ko ni ki ga aru no kai?

   Are you interested in that girl?

   彼はもう来たかい？

   かれはもうきたかい？

   Kare wa mō kita kai?

   Has he come yet?

   本当にできるのかい？

   ほんとうにできるのかい？

   Hontō ni dekiru no kai?

   Can you really do it?

Usage notes

• The question marker かい (“kai”) is sometimes written as かえ (“kae”), but it's less common.

---

Mandarin

Romanization

kai

1. Nonstandard spelling of kāi.
2. Nonstandard spelling of kǎi.
3. Nonstandard spelling of kài.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Chinese speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Chinese language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

---

Maori

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *kai (compare Hawaiian ʻai), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *kaen (compare Fijian kana, Indonesian and Malay makan), from Proto-Oceanic (compare Tagalog kain).

Noun

kai

1. food

Related terms

• kaimoana

Verb

kai (used in the form kai-nga)

1. to eat

---

Norwegian

Noun

kai

1. dock

---

Rapa Nui

Etymology

Compare Maori kai.

Noun

kai

1. food

Derivatives

• patia kai

Verb

kai

1. eat

Adverb

kai

1. not

---

Tok Pisin

Verb

kai

1. (transitive) to eat

Noun

kai

1. food

---

Tuvaluan

Adverb

kai

1. ever