wharepuni
/ˌwɑːɹeɪˈpuːni/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
9
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A large building in Maori communities for communal sleeping or for group meetings; a meeting house.
New Zealand usage
Example Sentences
- "The dwellings of the chiefs are surrounded with enclosures of pole-fences; and the Whares and Wharepunis, some of them exhibiting very fine specimens of the Maori order of architecture, are ornamented with grotesque wood-carvings."
- "A notable recent event was the construction of a fourth wharepuni. These wharepuni are in themselves fully fledged meeting-houses, although the decoration inside is simple, in accordance with their function as dormitories."
- "Wharepuni increased greatly in size to the kinds of dimensions that would become common in the twentieth century."
Etymology
From Māori wharepuni.
Word Breakdown
- Root: wharepuni
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˌwɑːɹeɪˈpuːni/