whā

From Proto-Polynesian *fa, from Proto-Oceanic *pat, from Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *pat, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *əpat, from Proto-Austronesian *Səpat.

whā

1. four

From Proto-Polynesian *faqa (“leaf stalk” – compare with Tahitian fā “stalk of banana, coconut or taro leaf”, Tongan faʻa, Samoan faʻa), from Proto-Oceanic *paqa (compare with Fijian ba (“taro stalk”)), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *palaqpaq (“midrib of coconut leaf” – compare with Malay pelepah, Tagalog palapa);^[1][2][3] generalization from lack of coconuts found naturally in New Zealand.^[4]

For sense of feather, compare with Malay bulu pelepah (lit. “frond[-shaped] hair/fur”).

whā

1. any leaf of certain plants like taro and harakeke with a long and thick rachis (stalk)
2. feather

   Synonym: huru

• karawhā
• whāwhā

• Williams, Herbert William (1917) “whā”, in A Dictionary of the Maori Language, page 568
• “whā” in John C. Moorfield, Te Aka: Maori–English, English–Maori Dictionary and Index, 3rd edition, Longman/Pearson Education New Zealand, 2011, →ISBN.