Word.ws English Dictionary

Tinirau

Tinirau proper noun: a guardian of fish.

Proper noun

Tinirau

  1. (Polynesian mythology) A guardian of fish.
    • Tinirau came back and found the blushing girl, who became his cherished wife. Ina now discovered that it was the might of Tinirau that inspired her with a manu, or strange spirit, and then provided for her safety in voyaging to his home in the Sacred Isle.1887, E. Tregear, Art. LXV—Polynesian Folk-lore: Hina's Voyage to the Sacred Isle, James Hector (editor), Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, Volume 19 [Vol. 2 of 2nd Series]...
    • When Tinirau was well, Kae begged to be allowed to return home quickly on the back of Tinirau’s pet whale, Tutunui.1888, Alexander A. Fraser, Raromi, Or, The Maori Chief's Heir, The Religious Tract Society, page 126
    Synonyms:
    Kinilau, Tigilau, Tinilau, Sinilau

Synonyms of Tinirau

  • Kinilau
  • Tigilau
  • Tinilau
  • Sinilau

Questions about Tinirau

What does Tinirau mean?
Tinirau means a guardian of fish.
What part of speech is Tinirau?
Tinirau is a proper noun.

Words near Tinirau in the dictionary

  1. tinikling
  2. tinily
  3. tininess
  4. tininesses
  5. tining
  6. Tinirau
  7. Tiniwisan
  8. Tinjan
  9. tink
  10. tinkal
  11. tinkalite

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Tinirau (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “Tinirau.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tinirau. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.