ngākau

Maori

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *ŋaakau; compare with Hawaiian naʻau (“intestines, mind”), Tahitian ʻāʻau (“bowels, heart, conscience, soul”), Tongan ngākau (“intestines”) and Samoan gāʻau (“entrails, penis”).[1][2]

Noun

ngākau

  1. heart, mind, soul
  2. (archaic) intestines, bowels

References
  1. Tregear, Edward (1891) Maori-Polynesian Comparative Dictionary‎, Wellington, New Zealand: Lyon and Blair, pages 275-6
  2. Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “gaakau”, in POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online

Further reading
  • “ngākau” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.
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