Word.ws English Dictionary

tuakana

tuakana noun: in Maori contexts, the elder brother of a male or the elder sister of a female; also, a same-sex cousin of a more senior branch of the family; (loosely), a mentor.

Noun

tuakana (plural tuakanas or tuakana)

  1. (New Zealand) In Maori contexts, the elder brother of a male or the elder sister of a female; also, a same-sex cousin of a more senior branch of the family; (loosely), a mentor.
    • Among those who followed were, as might have been expected, Tāmati Wāka Nene and his older brother and tuakana, Patuone.2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 152

Forms of tuakana

pluraltuakanas
pluraltuakana

Origin of tuakana

Borrowed from Māori tuakana.

Questions about tuakana

What does tuakana mean?
Tuakana means in Maori contexts, the elder brother of a male or the elder sister of a female; also, a same-sex cousin of a more senior branch of the family; (loosely), a mentor.
What part of speech is tuakana?
Tuakana is a noun.
What is the plural of tuakana?
The plural of tuakana is tuakanas.

Words near tuakana in the dictionary

  1. tua culpa
  2. tua culpas
  3. Tua Pek Kong
  4. tuah
  5. tuaithbel
  6. tuakana
  7. tuakanas
  8. Tual
  9. Tualati
  10. Tualatin
  11. Tuam

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tuakana (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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