Word.ws English Dictionary

palagi

Syllables: pa·lang·iUK/ˈpɑːləŋi/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

New Zealand/ˈpɐ̞ːlɐ̞ŋi/

palagi noun: a white person; a Caucasian.

Noun

palagi (plural palagis or palagi)

  1. (New Zealand, Western Polynesia) A white person; a Caucasian.
    • ‘Serves him right for trying to act like a palagi!’ she muttered to herself.1979, Albert Wendt, Leaves of the Banyan Tree
    • Then Ione said: "Jerry, you are the only honest palagi I ever met."1994, Jerome Gold, Hurricanes
    Synonyms:
    papalagi

Synonyms of palagi

Forms of palagi

pluralpalagis
pluralpalagi

Origin of palagi

From Samoan pālagi, variant of papālagi (“white person, European”). Compare earlier papalagi.

Questions about palagi

What does palagi mean?
Palagi means a white person; a Caucasian.
What part of speech is palagi?
Palagi is a noun.
How do you pronounce palagi?
Palagi is pronounced /ˈpɐ̞ːlɐ̞ŋi/ (New Zealand).
What is the plural of palagi?
The plural of palagi is palagis.

Words near palagi in the dictionary

  1. palaetiology
  2. palafitte
  3. palafittes
  4. Palafox
  5. Palafoxes
  6. palagi
  7. palagis
  8. palagonite
  9. palagonites
  10. palagonitic
  11. palagonitization

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: palagi (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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