Tui
/ˈtuː.iː/noun
A glossy black New Zealand songbird with distinctive white throat feathers.
Did you know?Tūī can imitate other birds, environmental noises, and even human speech, making its song seem almost supernatural to listeners.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Polynesian
Proto-Polynesian
*tui
“Reconstructed ancestral form associated with the tūī bird; the exact original sense is uncertain.”
Pre-European New Zealand
Māori
tūī
“The native New Zealand songbird now known in English as the tui.”
18th Century
Māori
tūī
“Recorded by European explorers as the Māori name for the bird.”
19th Century
English
tui
“An English borrowing used for the New Zealand bird.”
Modern English
English
tui
“A New Zealand honeyeater, Prosthemadera novaeseelandiae.”