pounamu

English

Alternative forms

• poenamu

Etymology

Borrowed from Māori pounamu.

Noun

pounamu (uncountable)

1. (New Zealand) Jade, nephrite.
   • 1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 233:

     “They didn't exactly eat off pounamu plates, but they left quite a bit to us all.”

   • 2021 December 6, Charlotte Graham-McLay, “In New Zealand, the Fishhook Pendant Called Hei Matau”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     Over time, the hooks became increasingly stylized and now are a popular shape for decorative pounamu pendants called hei matau, the first word indicating that the matau is worn around the neck.

See also

• greenstone

Hawaiian

Etymology

Borrowed from Māori pounamu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pou̯ˈna.mu/, [powˈnɐ.mu]

Noun

pounamu

1. jade, jadeite

Further reading

• pounamu in Combined Hawaiian Dictionary, at trussel2.com.

Māori

Alternative forms

• pounemu (South Island)

Etymology

Component pou likely an elision of powhatu ~ pōwhatu (cf. mou from motu), while namu “green-blue, grue” from Proto-Eastern Polynesian *namu (compare with Tahitian ninamu). (This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpounamu/ [ˈpɔʉnɐmʉ]

Adjective

pounamu

1. dark green

Noun

pounamu

1. greenstone, nephrite

   Synonym: pounemu

2. glass bottle

Derived terms

• Te Waipounamu (“South Island”)

Descendants

• → English: pounamu
• → Hawaiian: pounamu

Further reading

• Williams, Herbert William (1917), “pounamu”, in A Dictionary of the Maori Language, page 347
• John C. Moorfield (2011), “pounamu”, in Te Aka: Māori–English, English–Māori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, →ISBN