Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

papeete

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.92 in modern English

Syllables: pa-peete
IPA

11

Scrabble Score

7

Letters

2

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

name

The capital city of French Polynesia.

Example Sentences

"Things did not turn out as he hoped. Having reached Tahiti in June 1891, he soon fled the island's Europeanized capital, Papeete, for the village of Mataiea, where he met Teha'amana, 14, who became his mistress and model."

Etymology

From Tahitian pape (“water”) + Tahitian ʻete (“basket”) (cognate with Māori kete, Niuean kato, 'Are'are kato, Hawaiian ʻeke (“sack”). This probably refers to the mountains condensing and collecting rain in the Papeete basin.

Word Breakdown

Root: pape, ʻete

Inflected Forms

Papeʻete (alternative)

Questions

What does papeete mean?: The capital city of French Polynesia.
Where does papeete come from?: From Tahitian pape (“water”) + Tahitian ʻete (“basket”) (cognate with Māori kete, Niuean kato, 'Are'are kato, Hawaiian ʻeke (“sack”). This probably refers to the mountains condensing and collecting rain in the Papeete basin.

How to pronounce papeete

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “papeete”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
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