Kia ora (, approximated in English as or ) is a Māori-language

greeting Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship (usually cordial) or social status (formal or informal) between indivi ...

which has entered

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. It translates literally as "have life" or "be healthy", wishing the essence of life upon someone, from one speaker to the other. It is used as an informal greeting or farewell equivalent to " hi", "

hello ''Hello'' is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826. Early uses ''Hello'', with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the ''Norwich C ...

" or "goodbye" and can be used as an expression of thanks similar to "

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". As a greeting it is comparable to the term "" (used in Australian and New Zealand English).

Meaning

''Kia ora'' can be used to wish somebody life and health—the word ''ora'' used as a noun means "life, health and vitality". It might also be used as a

salutation A salutation is a greeting used in a letter or other communication. Salutations can be formal or informal. The most common form of salutation in an English letter is wed by the recipient's given name or title. For each style of salutation there i ...

, a farewell or an expression of thanks. It also signifies agreement with a speaker at a meeting, being as it is from a culture that prizes oratory. It is widely used alongside other more formal Māori greetings. The

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website NZ History lists it as one of 100 Māori words every New Zealander should know, and lists the following definition: "Hi!, G'day! (general informal greeting)". ''Kia ora'' can follow a similar pattern to address different specific numbers of people. By itself, it can be used to address any number of people, but by adding ''koe'' (i.e., ''kia ora koe''); ''kōrua''; and ''koutou'' one can specify a greeting to, respectively, a single; two; or three or more people. Similarly, by following with ''tātou'', one addresses all the people present, including the speaker themselves.

Commercial use

New Zealand's national airline,

Air New Zealand Air New Zealand Limited () is the flag carrier airline of New Zealand. Based in Auckland, the airline operates scheduled passenger flights to 20 domestic and 30 international destinations in 18 countries, primarily around and within the Pacific ...

, uses ''Kia Ora'' as the name for its

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. Water Safety New Zealand, a water-safety advocacy organisation, has a specific Māori water safety programme, ''Kia Maanu Kia Ora'', which makes use of the literal meaning of kia ora, as their message translates as ''stay afloat; stay alive''.

Controversy

In 1984, an Auckland telephone operator,

Naida Glavish Dame Rangimārie Naida Glavish ( ) (born 1946) is a New Zealand politician and Māori community leader from the Ngāti Whātua iwi. From 2013 to 2016, she was President of the Māori Party. Early life and career Glavish is affiliated to Ng ...

, was instructed to stop using ''kia ora'' when greeting callers after the post office had received a complaint. She refused to do so and was consequently demoted, with the whole affair attracting much public interest. She was later given back her original job. The Postmaster-General,

Rob Talbot Robert Leslie Gapper Talbot (18 October 1923 – 13 December 2012) was a New Zealand politician who represented the National Party as a Member of Parliament. A Muldoon loyalist, he was a cabinet minister from 1981 to 1984 in the Third Nationa ...

, convinced the then

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to overturn the prohibition on ''kia ora''.

In other languages

''Kia ora'' has a similar meaning to the word ''kia orana'', found in many related

Polynesian languages The Polynesian languages form a genealogical group of languages, itself part of the Oceanic branch of the Austronesian family. There are 38 Polynesian languages, representing 7 percent of the 522 Oceanic languages, and 3 percent of the Austron ...

such as

Cook Islands Māori Cook Islands Māori is an Eastern Polynesian language that is the official language of the Cook Islands. Cook Islands Māori is closely related to New Zealand Māori, but is a distinct language in its own right. Cook Islands Māori is simply c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kia Ora Māori words and phrases Greeting words and phrases

Meaning

Commercial use

Controversy

In other languages

See also

References