Tāngata
/ˈtaː.ŋata/noun
A Māori word meaning people or human beings, especially in the phrase tāngata whenua, “people of the land.”
Did you know?Tāngata belongs to a widespread Polynesian family of words for human beings, including Hawaiian kanaka—one reason “Kanaka” became an English term for a Pacific Islander.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Austronesian, c. 3000 BCE or earlier
Proto-Austronesian
*qaCika / *taŋata
“A reconstructed Austronesian ancestry associated with person or human being; the precise reconstruction is debated.”
Proto-Polynesian, c. 1st millennium BCE
Proto-Polynesian
*taŋata
“Person or human being.”
Early Polynesian languages
Proto-Eastern Polynesian
*taŋata
“Human being or person.”
Māori, pre-European period
Māori
tangata
“Person, human being, or man.”
Modern Māori
Māori
tāngata
“People or human beings; the macron marks a long vowel.”
Modern New Zealand English
English
tangata
“A Māori loanword used especially in phrases such as tangata whenua, referring to the people indigenous to a place.”
Explore more surprising origins