Colours

Ngā kara

Ngā Tohutohu

Here are some of the common Māori words for colours. Like some other languages, many of the words for colours come from things that have the particular colour in nature.

kākāriki	be green, small green parrot
karaka	be orange, a tree with orange berries
kikorangi, kahurangi	be blue
kiwikiwi	be grey
kōwhai	be yellow, a tree with yellow flowers
mā	be white, clean
mangu, pango	be black
māwhero	be pink
pākākā	be brown, reddish brown, ginger
pango	be black
paraone	be brown
parauri	be dark in colour, dark brown
pūmā	be grey
pūwhero	be reddish
waiporoporo	be purple
whero	be red

Below are some examples that demonstrate the use of these words.

He māwhero ō rātou pāpāringa.	Their cheeks are pink.

Homai koa tōku pōtae waiporoporo.	Please pass my purple hat.

I kainga ngā āporo whero e te hōiho pākākā.	The red apples were eaten by the brown horse.

He maha ngā paoro i konei - he mā ētahi, he pūwhero ētahi, he kahurangi ētahi hoki.	There are lots of balls here - some are white, some are reddish and some are blue.

I tāhaetia tōna hākete kākāriki.	His green jacket was stolen.

He kahurangi, he whero, he mā hoki ngā kara o te haki o Aotearoa.	Blue, red and white are the colours of the New Zealand flag.

For further explanations and exercises see Te Kākano p.86 and Te Pukapuka Tātaki p.54.

Tirohia te pikitia, kātahi ka whakutu ai i te pātai ki te whakautu poto.

Pānuitia ngā kōrerorero, ā, whakakīa ngā āputa ki ngā kupu e tika ana.

Colours

Te Whanake Dictionary