whakawahine
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See also: whakawāhine
Maori[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From whaka- + wahine (“woman”). Cognate with Samoan fa'afafine.
Noun[edit]
whakawahine (irregular plural whakawāhine)
- a person assigned male at birth who lives and behaves as a female socially; literally "to become a woman"
- Coordinate term: tangata ira tāne
- 2019 August 31, Alan Weedon, “Fa'afafine, fakaleitī, fakafifine — understanding the Pacific's alternative gender expressions”, in ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)[1] (in English), retrieved 2020-05-31:
- In Samoa, people assigned male at birth who live as women are known as fa'afafine, which literally translates to "in the fashion of a woman". Similar identities to fa'afafine are found in Tonga (fakaleitī or leitī), Fiji (vaka sa lewa lewa), Niue (fakafifine), Kiribati and Tuvalu (pinapinaaine) and the Cook Islands (akava'ine).
Verb[edit]
whakawahine
- to become a woman
References[edit]
- “whakawahine” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.