Aotearoa

A1O1T1E1A1R1O1A1
New Zealand/aʊ.tɪəˈrɐʉ.a/literary/aʊ.teəˈroː.a/UK/ˌɑː.əʊ.teəˈrəʊ.ə/US/ˌaʊ.ti.əˈɹoʊ.ə/

proper noun

The North Island of New Zealand.

Less commonScrabble 8

Meanings

proper noun
  1. New ZealandobsoleteThe North Island of New Zealand.

    he found in the sea this island Aotearoa (the northern island of New Zealand), and he thought he would land there.

    1855, Sir George Grey, Polynesian mythology and ancient traditional history of the New Zealand race: as furnished by their priests and chiefs

    Synonyms: North Island

  2. New ZealandNew Zealand, a country in Oceania; the Māori name, used especially in a Polynesian or precolonial context.

    Aotearoa / rugged individual / glistening like a pearl / at the bottom of the world [...].

    1981, Tim Finn, Split Enz, “Six Months in a Leaky Boat”
    5 more examples

    The Maori in Aotearoa (the pair of major islands which Europeans have known as New Zealand) were part of the same oceanic culture.

    2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin, page 877

    You were a professor at the University of Hawai'i at Hilo and I know you went to Aotearoa to have some time there and gain some experiences.

    2019, Kamaka Pili, “Ep. 37: Manulani Aluli Meyer - Hawaiian Epistemology” (4:35 from the start), in Aloha Authentic, via YouTube

    There then arose a triangle of settlement across the vast Pacific, which had as its points Hawai‘i, Rapa Nui and Aotearoa.

    2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 10

    "We set a target for ourselves, Aotearoa, you've done it, but let's keep going," Ardern said, using a Maori name for New Zealand at a vaccination site, according to the Newshub news service.

    2021 October 16, Lidia Kelly, “New Zealand vaccinates 2.5% of its people in a day in drive to live with COVID-19”, in William Mallard, editor, Reuters, archived from the original on 16 Oct 2021, Asia Pacific

    In 2012, the two moved from Wellington back to the town where Jones was born, Kaitāia, in Aotearoa’s northern reaches.

    2025, Karen Hao, Empire of AI, New York City: Penguin Press, →ISBN

    Synonyms: Aotearoa New Zealand, New Zealand

Synonyms & antonyms

proper nounThe North Island of New Zealand.

proper nounNew Zealand, a country in Oceania; the Māori name, used especially in a Polynesian or precolonial context.

Also see

Origin

  1. MāoriAotearoa“long white cloud; North Island; New Zealand”
  2. EnglishAotearoa

Borrowed from Māori Aotearoa (“long white cloud; North Island; New Zealand”), see there for more.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Aotearoa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Aotearoa

MLA

“Aotearoa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Aotearoa. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Aotearoa,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Aotearoa.

Source: Aotearoa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.