English

Noun

poi ‎(uncountable)

1. (Hawaii) The traditional staple food of Hawaii, made by baking and pounding the kalo (or taro) root, and reducing it to a thin paste, which is allowed to ferment. [from 18th c.]
   • 2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, p. 104:

     It was a far cry from the traditional Hawaiian feast, which always included the beloved poi, a purplish paste made from pounded taro root […].

2. A creamy Samoan dessert of ripe bananas mashed with coconut cream.

Etymology 2

Fire poi (juggling).

Borrowing from Maori poi.

Noun

poi ‎(plural poi)

1. (New Zealand) A small ball made of leaves and fibres, attached to a string; also, a traditional dance performed by Maori women involving the rhythmic swinging of such a ball. [from 19th c.]

Anagrams

• IPO, PIO

Hawaiian

Noun

poi

1. Traditional staple food of Hawaiʻi. A porridge-like substance made from cooked and ground taro corm mixed with water.

Italian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *pos, from Classical Latin post.^[1]

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -ɔi

Adverb

poi

1. then
2. later

Noun

il poi m ‎(invariable)

1. the future

See also

• poiché

Anagrams

• pio, Pio

References

1. ↑ “poi” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, ISBN 978-88-00-20781-2

Japanese

Romanization

poi

1. rōmaji reading of ぽい
2. rōmaji reading of ポイ

Lojban

Etymology 1

A priori.

Cmavo

poi

1. Introduces a restrictive relative clause: who; which.

Usage notes

• The cmavo ku'o can be used to indicate the termination of the (restrictive) relative clause, but is only required if the parsing of the sentence would otherwise be ambiguous.
• The cmavo zi'e can be used to join two relative clauses.

Related terms

• noi
• voi

See also

• ke'a
• po'u
• zi'e

Etymology 2

From porsi.

Rafsi

poi

1. rafsi of porsi.

Old French

Etymology

From Latin paucus.

Adjective

poi m, f ‎(invariable)

1. few; little

Adverb

poi

1. little; not much

Pronoun

poi

1. few; not many (people, objects etc.)

Descendants

• French: peu

Samoan

Noun

poi

1. Samoan poi

Sukurum

Noun

poi

1. water

References

• Susanne Holzknecht, The Markham languages of Papua New Guinea (1989), page 71