Ivi
/ˈi.vi/noun
A Tahitian word meaning “bone.”
Did you know?Tahitian ivi belongs to a widespread Polynesian word family in which related forms can mean “bone,” while Māori iwi also developed the meaning “tribe” or “people,” linking ancestry with shared bones.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Austronesian
PAN
*qisi
“Bone; the reconstructed ancestral form behind later Oceanic words for bone”
Proto-Oceanic
POC
*ivi
“Bone”
Proto-Polynesian
PPN
*ivi
“Bone”
Early Tahitian
Tahitian
ivi
“Bone”
Modern Tahitian
Tahitian
ivi
“Bone”
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