kawakawa

Borrowed from Maori kawakawa.

kawakawa (countable and uncountable, plural kawakawas)

1. Alternative form of kiwikiwi (“star fern”) (Blechnum fluviatie)
2. A false albacore, a fish of species Euthynnus affinis.
3. Piper excelsum (syn. Macropiper excelsum), a shrub endemic to New Zealand.

From its supposed resemblance to Proto-Polynesian *kawa (“bitter ginger; bitter; kava”), duplicated to indicate similarity (thus, cognate with Hawaiian ʻawa, Tongan kava and Samoan ʻava).^[1][2] Further derived from Proto-Oceanic *kawaʀ (“potent root”) metathesis of Proto-Oceanic *wakaʀ (“root”), thus doublet of aka (“root”).

kawakawa

1. kawakawa (Piper excelsum), a shrub endemic to New Zealand.

• kawa

kawakawa

1. loose soil