māhū

See also: mahu, mǎhu, and mahū

Hawaiian

Etymology

From Proto-Nuclear Polynesian *maafuu (unenergetic, not passionate). Cognate with Māori māhū (gentle, easy), Tahitian māhū.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /maːˈhuː/

Noun

māhū

  1. a person of the third gender, having traditional spiritual and social roles in the cultures of Hawaii and Tahiti
  2. homosexual
  3. effeminate boy or man
  4. hermaphrodite
  5. eunuch

References

Māori

Etymology

From Proto-Nuclear Polynesian *maafuu (unenergetic, not passionate). Cognate with Hawaiian māhū.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈmaːhuː/ [ˈmɑːhuː]

Verb

māhū

  1. to be gentle

References

  • māhū” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.
  • Ross Clark and Simon J. Greenhill, editors (2011), “maafuu”, in “POLLEX-Online: The Polynesian Lexicon Project Online”, in Oceanic Linguistics, volume 50, number 2, pages 551-559