Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

wahine

/wɑˈhineɪ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.66 in modern English

Syllables: wahine
IPA: /wɑˈhineɪ/

12

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A Polynesian or Maori woman.

noun

A female surfer.

Example Sentences

"I wanna be with all the kanes and wahines that I knew long ago"
"One Way Wahine was the next beach movie, after Ride the Wild Surf, to be filmed on the sands of Hawaii. It was marketed to the teenage audience as a beach movie but it is a more serious look at the seamy side of Hawaii and the surf bums and one way wahines who go there to make a quick buck."
"The photographs showed a very plain-looking, very young wahine."
"Cowboy applauded his pupils and turned to the audience. “Give these two wahines a round, folks. They've been good sports.”"

Etymology

Borrowed from Māori wahine (“woman”), from Proto-Polynesian *fafine.

Word Breakdown

Root: wahine, *fafine

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /wɑˈhineɪ/
British English: /wɑːˈhiːnɪ/

Inflected Forms

wahines (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

kane

Rhymes With

bikini genie sweeney martini lamborghini mussolini teeny zucchini mancini jeannie houdini cassini

Questions

How do you pronounce wahine?: The recorded pronunciation is /wɑˈhineɪ/.
What does wahine mean?: A Polynesian or Maori woman.
Where does wahine come from?: Borrowed from Māori wahine (“woman”), from Proto-Polynesian *fafine.

How to pronounce wahine

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “wahine”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/wɑˈhineɪ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “wahine”.
Repeat and practice — Say “wahine” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.