Kākā
/ˈkɑːkɑː/noun
A large brown New Zealand parrot, Nestor meridionalis, known for its strong bill and harsh call.
Did you know?The Māori word kākā may imitate the bird’s call, making its name a rare surviving example of sound-symbolic language in English vocabulary.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Polynesian period
Proto-Polynesian
*kaka
“A reconstructed Polynesian bird-name form, probably associated with a parrot or parrot-like bird.”
Early Polynesian
Eastern Polynesian
kaka
“A parrot or parrot-like bird; the precise ancestral sense is debated.”
Before European contact
Māori
kākā
“The native New Zealand parrot, later scientifically named Nestor meridionalis.”
19th Century
English
kaka
“An English borrowing used by naturalists and colonists for the New Zealand parrot.”
Modern English
English
kākā
“The standard macron-marked form used in ornithology and New Zealand English.”