papalagi

plural papalagis · alternative papalangi

1. In Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand, a white person; a palagi.First known use 19th c.

   Yet those whom the Tongas called papalangi, or men from the sky, introduced into these islands a new language of politics, class and organisation.

   2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins, published 2021, page 53