ʻapi

Tahitian

Etymology

From Proto-Polynesian *kapi (“to hold firmly between”) (compare with Maori kapi (“to close, to shut”)) from Proto-Oceanic *kapit (compare with Fijian kabi (“to cling, to stick”)) from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qapit (“to pinch or squeeze”) (compare with Malay apit).

Noun

ʻapi

1. fold

Further reading

• Yves Lemaître, Lexique du tahitien contemporain (Current Tahitian lexicon), 1995.
• “ʻapi” in Dictionnaire en ligne Tahitien/Français (Online Tahitian–French Dictionary), by the Tahitian Academy.