papalagi

English

Alternative forms
  • papalangi

Etymology

From Samoan papālagi, Tongan papālagi. Compare palagi.

Noun

papalagi (plural papalagis or papalagi)

  1. In Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and New Zealand, a white person; a palagi. [from 19th c.]
    • 2020, Sujit Sivasundaram, Waves Across the South, William Collins 2021, p. 53:
      Yet those whom the Tongas called papalangi, or men from the sky, introduced into these islands a new language of politics, class and organisation.

Samoan

Etymology

papa + lagi

Noun

papalagi

  1. foreigner
  2. white man

Adjective

papalagi

  1. foreign
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