O

ó
  1. prepositon marking the genitive.
  2. preposition expressing the cause, the reason: because of (also i): e-tahataha-á te vaka o te tokerau. the boat rocks from side to side because of the wind.
  3. lest, in order not to… e-ûi koe o higa, be careful not to fall.
  4. sometimes used as conditional: if, whether; ina kai agiagi au o tu'u-mai te Matu'a, I don't know if the Padre has arrived.
  5. article sometimes used preceding proper names; ó Hotu Matu'a, ó Santiago.
  6. to answer saying "oh"; ana ragi te tagata ki te rua tagata, "hé koe?", he-ó-mai, he-kî: "ó, î au", when a man calls another, asking "where are you?" [the other] answers saying "oh, I am here."
o
to celebrate a festival: he-o i te gogoro.
oaha
  1. interjection abbreviated from oaha to'u veveveve - why your hurry, wait a bit; oaha, anirá, wait a bit, I'll do it (what you request).
  2. Oaha hía - why could it be that … (not) .. : oaha hia i a koe - o te aha koe i-ta'e haga-ai, why could it be that you don't want (to do something, or to accept an invitation); oaha hía te miro i-ta'e oho-mai-ai? why could it be that the boat has not arrived?
oga
to lean out; to go have a look: ka-oho, ka-oga te miro o te Ariki ó Hotu Matu'a. go and see (if) the boat of King Hotu Matu'a (has arrived).
ogahé
since when? how long? agahé te maîka nei? since when, how long have this bananas been here?
oge
food shortage; he ta'u o te oge, famine year; kaiga oge nuinui, land of great food shortage.
ogeoge
stench of rotting corpse.
ohe
bamboo.
ohi
stalk of some plants.
ohio
iron; modern word used for any metal and also for iron axes and coins.
ohirohiro
waterspout (more exactly pú ohirohiro), a column of water which rises spinning on itself.
ohipa
stone enclosure.
oho
  1. to go: ka-oho! go! go away! (i.e. "goodbye" said by the person staying behind); ka-oho-mai (very often contracted to: koho-mai), welcome! (lit.: come here); ku-oho-á te tagata, the man has gone;
  2. also rauoho, hair.
ohoga
travel, direction of a journey; ohoga-mai, return.
ohu
  1. to cry, to bawl: e-ohu-á te poki i uta, there is a baby bawling up here.
  2. circle; circular, round; hakaohu, to form a circle, to sit in a circle.
ohumu
selfish, stingy, niggardly: tagata ohumualso: tagata gu.
oi
to move away, to withdraw (usually with atu): ka-oi-atu, move out ot the way; oi-mai, to approach, to draw near.
ôi
to stir something; iterative; ôiôi.
o'i
to pull out plants which have grown too close together in order to leave more space between them: to thin out.
o'io'i
maggot.
oira
adverb: because of that.
oira
oira … ká-, before (preceding past actions, not future): oira au ka-tu'u-mai, before I came here; oira ka-tomo mai Hotu Matu'a ki te kaiga nei, he tagata o nei, before Hotu Matu'a came to this island, there were people here.
oka
  1. lever, pole; to dig holes in the ground with a sharpened stick, as was done in ancient times to plant vegetables; used generally in the meaning of making plantations.
  2. the four sideways poles supporting a hare paega.
okaoka
to jab, to pierce, to prick repeatedly.
okioki
to buzz, to ring (ears); buzzing; e-okioki-á te naonao, the mosquitoes are buzzing; ku-okioki-á te me'e i roto i tooku tariga, something is buzzing in my ear, my ear is ringing.
oko, okooko
to take all, leaving nothing behind; te ga ipoki ku-okooko-á i te hoga'a mámari, the children took the nest with the eggs.
oko
to grow well and be about to ripen; ku-oko-á te maîka, te kumara the bananas and the sweet potatoes have grown well and are just about ready.
ômaôma
emaciated.
omo
to suck.
omoaga
bulky cloud, cumulus: ragi omoaga.
omoomo
to suck repeatedly, to suckle.
omotahi
to win everything at a game (lit: to suck whole): omotahi-mai-á e au, he has cleaned me out.
omotohi
full (of the moon); ku-omotohiá te mahina,the moon is full.
one
sand.
oneone
(reduplication of oone which see below) dirty, covered in soil, in mud.
o'o
to enter; he-o'o kiroto ki te hare, to enter a house.
o'oa
to crow (of rooster).
ooka
to perforate, to stab, to prick: ku-ooka-á te îka hai patía. the fish is transpierced by the harpoon.
ooku
possessive pronoun: mine (see also aaku).
oona
possessive pronoun: his, hers, its. (see also aana).
oone
ground, soil; mud; dirty, to get dirty.
ootu
  1. to be cooked, cooking; ku-ootu-á te kai, the food is cooked; ina kai ootu rivariva te umu, (the food in) the oven is not well cooked.
  2. to cook something (also haka-ootu).
oou
possessive pronoun: yours. (see also aau).
opata
steep; precipice, cliff; steep coastal slope.
ope
shovel.
opeope
to curl (of the sea): tai opeope.
opo
to flee, to run away.
ópoópo
to eat greedily, smacking one's lip; ópoópo i te mâmari, to gobble down an egg.
ora
  1. alive; healthy; to recover, to be saved (from an illness or a danger): ku-ora-á, ina kai mate, he recovered, he did not die; ku-ora-á te haoa, the wound has healed; e-ora-no-á, he is still alive; ora-hakaou mai, to come back to life; ora ké, what a pleasant breeze! (lit: how healthy!)
  2. stick for spinning top (made from the shell of a sandalwood nut) with which children make the top spin.
oraga
life (in the meaning of existence, or as the present or future state of the soul); salvation, rescue from death; resurrection: te oraga-hakaou-mai.
oro
  1. to flit in the air (of a bird), turning and flying up and down.
  2. to file, to scratch, to scrub, to grind, to sharpen; ka-oro te kumara, grind the sweet potatoes; ka-oro te hoe, sharpen the knife.
orooro
to rub, to polish, to shine.
oru
pig.
otea
dawn, morning; daytime from dawn to dusk; ka-otea-ró (work all night) until dawn.
oti
to come to and end; to suffice, to be enough: ku-oti-á, it is finished; ina kai oti mo kai, there is not enough to eat; he-oti á, there isn't anymore left, it's the last one; it's enough with that.
otoroka
according to old Eva Hey (who died in 1946) this was a greeting (today unknown). It seems to be the same as that which, according to Karl Friedrich Behrens (1722), a native directed at Roggeveen's ships, the first native to board the ensign ship and who, upon going back, "raised both hands and with his eyes turned to the island, shouted: 'Odorroga, Odorroga'"
Ovakevake
according to ancient beliefs, the home of the spirits called ákuáku: i Hiva, i Ovakevake. Some natives remember that old people told them that when the first missionaries arrived several ákuáku took their leave, saying that they were returning to Hiva, to Ovakevake. Another place where ákuáku supposedly lived before coming here was, according to the ancient belief, Maru a Pó, in Tahiti.