Etymology

kauri

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Today it means: A conifer of the genus Agathis, found in Australasia and Melanesia, especially Agathis australis. Full definition →

First used 19th c.Māori kauri ← Proto-Polynesian *kauquli
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The story

  1. Proto-Polynesian · derived from*kauquli
  2. Māori · borrowed fromkauri
  3. English todaykauri

Borrowed from Māori kauri from Proto-Polynesian *kauquli, from *kau (“tree”) + *quli (“black”), originally referring to Samoan ebony ("Diospyros samoensis").

First known use, by meaning

  • from 19th c. A conifer of the genus Agathis, found in Australasia and Melanesia, especially Agathis australis.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.