"noa" meaning in English

See noa in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Etymology: From the Polynesian term noa, e.g. Hawaiian noa (“free of taboo”). Etymology templates: {{der|en|poz-pol}} Polynesian, {{m+|haw|noa||free of taboo}} Hawaiian noa (“free of taboo”) Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} noa (not comparable)
  1. (linguistics) Non-taboo; serving to replace a taboo name or term. Tags: not-comparable
    Sense id: en-noa-en-adj-zXbEDLjY Categories (other): Linguistics Topics: human-sciences, linguistics, sciences
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1

Adjective

Etymology: Borrowed from Māori noa. Etymology templates: {{bor+|en|mi|noa}} Borrowed from Māori noa Head templates: {{en-adj|-}} noa (not comparable)
  1. (New Zealand, among the Maori) Non-sacred; such that it must be kept separate from what is taboo. Tags: New-Zealand, not-comparable
    Sense id: en-noa-en-adj-I0BNEuVw Categories (other): New Zealand English, English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 20 entries, Pages with entries, New Zealand, Religion Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 39 61 Disambiguation of Pages with 20 entries: 13 27 13 2 4 3 4 0 16 0 3 3 11 0 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 18 26 16 1 3 2 2 0 16 0 2 2 12 0 Disambiguation of New Zealand: 7 93 Disambiguation of Religion: 4 96
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2
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      "args": {
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      "expansion": "Hawaiian noa (“free of taboo”)",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "source": "w"
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            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1968, Scottish Gaelic Studies, page 25:",
          "text": "It vividly recalls the use of the same epithet in the name The Seven Haley Isles, a seamen's noa term for the Flannan Islands (SGS, xi, 88). A further striking parallel is offered by Eng. halibut lit. 'holy butt' and its many Germanic cognates, terms which certainly arose in a milieu conditioned by intense superstition[…]",
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          "ref": "2002, O. Bandle, editor, The Nordic Languages, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 291:",
          "text": "The power of the spoken word has meant that some dangerous things are not mentioned by their \"real\" names, but by noa terms, like gullfot (literally \"golden foot\") for \"wolf\", or tallbjörn (literally \"pine bear\"), granoxe (literally: \"fir ox\"), trädräv (literally: \"tree fox\") or granälg (literally: \"fir elk\") for \"squirrel\".",
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          "ref": "2015 October 31, Heidrun Stebergløkken, Ragnhild Berge, Eva Lindgaard, Ritual Landscapes and Borders within Rock Art Research: Papers in Honour of Professor Kalle Sognnes, Archaeopress Publishing Ltd, →ISBN, page 145:",
          "text": "Blå Jungfrun […] is a noa name. The tabooed name of this island is Blåkulla, Blue Hill (or Rock), a recurring name of the home of the witches in the North.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
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        "Non-taboo; serving to replace a taboo name or term."
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        "(linguistics) Non-taboo; serving to replace a taboo name or term."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "not-comparable"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "linguistics",
        "sciences"
      ]
    }
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  "word": "noa"
}

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          "ref": "2002, O. Bandle, editor, The Nordic Languages, Walter de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 291:",
          "text": "The power of the spoken word has meant that some dangerous things are not mentioned by their \"real\" names, but by noa terms, like gullfot (literally \"golden foot\") for \"wolf\", or tallbjörn (literally \"pine bear\"), granoxe (literally: \"fir ox\"), trädräv (literally: \"tree fox\") or granälg (literally: \"fir elk\") for \"squirrel\".",
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          "text": "Blå Jungfrun […] is a noa name. The tabooed name of this island is Blåkulla, Blue Hill (or Rock), a recurring name of the home of the witches in the North.",
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        }
      ],
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        "Non-taboo; serving to replace a taboo name or term."
      ],
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        "(linguistics) Non-taboo; serving to replace a taboo name or term."
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        "not-comparable"
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        "human-sciences",
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}

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        }
      ],
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      ],
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        "Non-sacred; such that it must be kept separate from what is taboo."
      ],
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        [
          "sacred",
          "sacred"
        ],
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          "taboo",
          "taboo"
        ]
      ],
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(New Zealand, among the Maori) Non-sacred; such that it must be kept separate from what is taboo."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand",
        "not-comparable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "noa"
}

Download raw JSONL data for noa meaning in English (3.6kB)

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (d6fca27 and 65e1673). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.