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whakapapa

/ˈfɑːkəˌpɑːpə/

whakapapa noun: genealogy, as a fundamental principle of Māori culture that is critical in establishing one's identity.

Noun

whakapapa (usually uncountable, plural whakapapas)

  1. (New Zealand, usually) Genealogy, as a fundamental principle of Māori culture that is critical in establishing one's identity.
    • What are you crying for? asks the Kati Kahukunu (he's probably my 23rd cousin but we haven't swapped whakapapa yet).1983, Keri Hulme, The Bone People, Penguin, published 1986, page 98

Forms of whakapapa

pluralwhakapapas

Origin of whakapapa

Borrowed from Māori whakapapa.

Questions about whakapapa

What does whakapapa mean?
Whakapapa means genealogy, as a fundamental principle of Māori culture that is critical in establishing one's identity.
What part of speech is whakapapa?
Whakapapa is a noun.
How do you pronounce whakapapa?
Whakapapa is pronounced /ˈfɑːkəˌpɑːpə/.
What is the plural of whakapapa?
The plural of whakapapa is whakapapas.

Words near whakapapa in the dictionary

  1. whahoo
  2. whaikorero
  3. Whaingaroan
  4. whaitsiid
  5. whaitsiids
  6. whakapapa
  7. whakapapas
  8. Whakatane
  9. Whakatāne
  10. Whaker
  11. Whakers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: whakapapa (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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