tiki
/ˈtɪki
/noun (plural tikis)
1NZ A large wooden or small greenstone image of a human figure.A throwback to the Polynesian craze that swept North America in the '50s and '60s, the restaurant is full of Eastern Island statuettes, wooden tikis and a Hawaiian ukulele soundtrack....
- No, what he felt for was the little smooth object sewn at the back of his silver fern, a greenstone tiki presented by the Maori people of Hawera.
- Tipi wore a greenstone tiki around her neck that had been passed down through many generations.
2 [as modifier] Denoting something that is imitative of objects or customs associated with the tropical islands of the South Pacific: a tiki bar tiki huts...
- I think that I will build a tiki bar.
- Back on the mainland, any travelling I did became a pretext for my on-going tiki bar pilgrimage.
- Pete Moruzzi, a computer sales executive, built a tiki bar in his Southern California home in 1994.
Origin
Maori, literally 'image'. sense 2 represents an independent development, which first became widespread in the mid 20th century in the US tourist industry.