poi

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /pɔɪ/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔɪ

A bowl of poi.

Borrowed from Hawaiian poi.

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, page 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.

Fire poi (juggling).

Borrowed from Maori poi.

poi (plural poi or pois)

1. (New Zealand) A small ball made of leaves and fibres, attached to a string. [from 19th c.]
   • 2008, Ellen Koskoff, “Haka poi”, in The Concise Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Routledge, →ISBN, page 738:

     Warriors formerly used poi actions to maintain wrist flexibility, but poi have developed as a women's dance. Classic poi dances and songs are reputed to have been those of the people of the Taranaki, Rotorua, and Whanganui tribal areas, but poi are now performed everywhere in Aotearoa.

   • 2013, Catriona Rainsford, The Urban Circus: Travels with Mexico's Malabaristas, Bradt Travel Guides, →ISBN, page 18:

     A couple of days later Trico announced that, if I were to travel with them, it was imperative that I learn some form of malabares, or circus skill. The available options were poi, staff or juggling. ‘Poi’, the form of malabares that Sandra played, are two balls at the end of chains which are spun in patterns around the body. When the balls are replaced by wicks soaked in gasoline and set alight, the poi ‘spin fire’.

2. (New Zealand) A traditional dance performed by Maori women involving the rhythmic swinging of such a ball. [from 19th c.]

• poi (food) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• poi (performance art) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• IOP, IPO, OPI, PIO, Pio

poi

1. to quit (doing something)
2. to let go, to unleash

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

poi

1. a porridge-like substance made from cooked and ground taro corm mixed with water; a traditional Hawaiian staple food

From Vulgar Latin *pos, from Classical Latin post.[1] Compare Portuguese pois, Spanish pues, French puis, and Romanian apoi / Romanian poi (archaic păi).

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔj/

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔj
• Hyphenation: pòi

poi

1. then
2. later

• poiché

• dopo

il poi m (invariable)

1. the future

• Pio, ipo-, pio, pio-

poi

1. Rōmaji transcription of ぽい
2. Rōmaji transcription of ポイ

Borrowed from Burmese ပွဲ (pwai:).

poi

1. feast, festival

• Kurabe, Keita (2016 December 31) “Phonology of Burmese loanwords in Jinghpaw”, in Kyoto University Linguistic Research‎, volume 35, →DOI, →ISSN, pages 91–128

From Latin paucus.

poi m or f (invariable)

1. few; little

poi

1. little; not much

poi

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

• French: peu

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔ.i/
• Rhymes: -ɔi
• Syllabification: po‧i

poi

1. third-person singular present of poić

poi

1. Alternative form of apoi

poi

1. Samoan poi

poi

1. water

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