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ha·ka

(häkä)

1. A Maori war dance accompanied by chanting.

2. A similar choreographed chant performed by a rugby team, especially one from New Zealand.

[Maori ; akin to Hawaiian ha‘a, men's dance performed with bent knees, and Samoan sa‘a, to be short-legged, dance, all from Proto-Polynesian *saka, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *sakaŋ, bowlegged (compare Tagalog sakaŋ, bowlegged), from Proto-Austronesian *-kaŋ, spread apart (as the legs or something split in two).]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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