Word.ws English Dictionary

taniwha

UK/ˈtanɪfə/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

New Zealand/ˈtʌnifə/

taniwha noun: a spirit or monster in Maori mythology, especially one that dwells in the water.

Noun

taniwha (plural taniwha or taniwhas)

  1. (New Zealand) A spirit or monster in Maori mythology, especially one that dwells in the water.
    • Doom! doom! the taniwha hath come!1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 168
  2. (New Zealand) A person who embodies the spirit of a taniwha.

Forms of taniwha

pluraltaniwha
pluraltaniwhas

Origin of taniwha

Borrowed from Māori taniwha.

Questions about taniwha

What does taniwha mean?
Taniwha means a spirit or monster in Maori mythology, especially one that dwells in the water.
What part of speech is taniwha?
Taniwha is a noun.
How do you pronounce taniwha?
Taniwha is pronounced /ˈtanɪfə/ (UK).
What is the plural of taniwha?
The plural of taniwha is taniwha.

Words near taniwha in the dictionary

  1. Tanit
  2. tanite
  3. Tanites
  4. Tanith
  5. Tanitic
  6. taniwha
  7. taniwhas
  8. Taniya
  9. Tanizaki
  10. Tanizakis
  11. tanj

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: taniwha (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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