Meaning & use
Polynesian
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Belonging to or connected with Polynesia, its peoples, or their cultures.
Grammar: Comes before the noun it describes: Polynesian culture, Polynesian islands.
Patterns
- Polynesian culture
- Polynesian islands
- of Polynesian origin
The museum has a gallery of Polynesian art and navigation tools.
Traditional Polynesian voyagers crossed huge distances using stars and ocean swells.
She studies Polynesian languages at the university.
nouncountable
A person who comes from Polynesia or whose family origins are there.
Grammar: Countable for people: one Polynesian, two Polynesians.
Patterns
- a Polynesian from somewhere
- Polynesians living in a place
Many Polynesians live in New Zealand, Hawaii, and Samoa.
He is a Polynesian whose grandparents moved to Auckland.
noununcountabletechnical
The group of related languages spoken in Polynesia, such as Samoan, Tongan, and Maori.
Grammar: No article and no plural when it means the language group: 'She speaks Polynesian'.
Patterns
- speak Polynesian
- a speaker of Polynesian
Linguists classify Maori and Hawaiian as members of Polynesian.
The word for 'sea' is similar across Polynesian.
Word forms
| plural | Polynesians |
|---|
Common combinations
- Polynesian culture
- Polynesian culture includes tattooing, weaving, and open-ocean sailing.
- Polynesian islands
- The Polynesian islands lie scattered across the central Pacific.
- Polynesian ancestry
- She has Polynesian ancestry on her mother's side.
- Polynesian languages
- Samoan, Tongan, and Maori are Polynesian languages.
- the Polynesian Triangle
- Hawaii, New Zealand, and Easter Island form the corners of the Polynesian Triangle.
Synonyms and how they differ
- Pacific Islander
- This is broader and includes Melanesians and Micronesians, so it does not fit when you mean Polynesia specifically.
- Pacific
- This only refers to the ocean region in general and says nothing about Polynesian culture or peoples.
Word family
- Polynesia proper noun
- The large group of islands in the central and southern Pacific Ocean.
- Micronesian adjective
- Relating to Micronesia, a different Pacific island region.
- Melanesian adjective
- Relating to Melanesia, another Pacific island region.
Commonly confused: Polynesian or Polynesian vs. Pacific Islander? Polynesian or Polynesian vs. Hawaiian?
Polynesian vs Polynesian vs. Pacific Islander
Polynesian is a smaller group within the much wider category of Pacific Islander, which also covers Micronesia and Melanesia.
Polynesian vs Polynesian vs. Hawaiian
Hawaiian is one specific Polynesian culture and language, not a synonym for the whole group.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'Polynesian' correctly?
Choose one answer.
As a noun for a person, 'Polynesian' is countable, so it needs 'a' when you mention one person. Option 1 misses the article, option 2 uses 'the' as if there were only one, and option 3 wrongly uses the plural with 'is'.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Polynesian”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.