English

Noun

toa ‎(plural toas)

1. A small painted artifact made by the Diyari people of Australia, believed to have been used as place markers or signposts.
   • 2000, Lin Onus, Urban dingo: the art and life of Lin Onus, 1948-1996, page 21:

     These thirty-four toa constructions, made from urban debris and ceremoniously installed in a circular (or sometimes oval) bed of sand, bring together the multiple themes centred on reclamation that preoccupied his life.

   • 2005, Bill Arthur, Macquarie Atlas of Indigenous Australia, page 22:

     It seems that on leaving one place people would place a toa in the ground to show other people where they had gone.

Etymology 2

Borrowing from Maori toa.

Noun

toa ‎(plural toas)

1. (New Zealand) A brave warrior.
   • 1902, Journal of the Polynesian Society, volume 11, page 211:

     The toa or brave who distinguished himself was thought very highly of.

   • 2011, Robert N. Bellah, Religion in Human Evolution, page 261:

     Thus in Polynesia, the toa (warrior) could challenge the ariki (priest/chief).

Etymology 3

Borrowing from Maori toa.

Noun

toa ‎(plural toas)

1. A Polynesian tree of the genus Casuarina, or its wood.
   • 1817, William Mariner, An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific, page 302:

     It happens that nature has assembled in this spot, on only the wildest profusion of the vegetable kingdom, over which the lofty toa tree stands pre-eminent, but also objects of another description, overhanging rocks, hollow-sounding caverns, and steep precipices, calculated to give an aspect as bold and sublime as the imagination can well conceive, and constituting a species of scenery, which, in proportion as it is more rare, is more admired by the natives.

   • 1882, John Shertzer Hittell, The Commerce and Industries of the Pacific Coast of North America, page 604:

     The toa wood of the South Pacific islands is similar to Eastern walnut in color and texture, but is much finer in figure.

Asturian

Determiner

toa f

1. feminine singular of tou

Dalmatian

Etymology

From Latin tua, feminine of tuus.

Pronoun

toa f (masculine to)

1. your; second-person feminine singular possessive pronoun

Estonian

Noun

toa

1. Genitive singular form of tuba.

Fijian

Noun

toa

1. fowl

Maori

Etymology 1

From Proto-Polynesian *toqa (compare Hawaiian koa)

Adjective

toa

1. brave

Etymology 2

From Proto-Polynesian *toa (compare Hawaiian koa), from Proto-Oceanic *toRas, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *teRas (compare Indonesian teras)

Noun

toa

1. A tree with dark-colored, hard wood, Casuarina equisetifolia.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowing from English tow.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal, Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈto.ɐ/

Noun

toa f (plural toas)

1. rope

Synonyms

• (rope): sirga

Related terms

• à toa

Swedish

Etymology

From toalett.

Noun

toa c

1. (colloquial) toilet, loo

Declension

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [twaː˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [twaː˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [t⁽ʷ⁾aː˧˥]

Etymology 1

Noun

toa

1. a railroad car
2. (medicine, pharmacy) a prescription

Etymology 2

Borrowing from French toi

Pronoun

toa

1. (obsolete, humorous) you

See also

• moa