Definition of wharepuni in English:
wharepuni
nounPlural wharepunisˌfɑːrɛˈpuːni
NZ A building in which a Maori family lives and sleeps.
it was a superior wharepuni in which a high ranking person and his family lived
Example sentencesExamples
- The free-standing type of wharepuni, without earthed-up walls, were constructed of less-durable materials and became more popular after the arrival of Europeans.
- Most Maori continued to live in wharepuni, and from the 1870s some of these included European materials, such as doorknobs, nails, sawn timber, and glazed windows.
- He noted that the wharepunis were void of ventilation and reeking with tobacco smoke.
- Their dwellings were rectangular in shape and resembled those of their former homes in Polynesia, and this basic form became the wharepuni.
- Pictured is a Maori family outside a whare puni near Masterton.
- Traditional wharepuni had a proportion of length to breadth of about 2 to 1.
- The wharepuni was used during his lifetime and was in use for some time after the passing away of his wife.
- These early communities featured a variety of building types, but the most common type was the wharepuni.
- There was a single space inside with a central passage and hearth, but smaller wharepuni had no central passage.
- He was brought up in the bush, pig hunting with his father, where they would build small wharepuni to stay in for days at a time
Origin
Early 20th century: from Maori whare 'house' + puni 'group, company'.