tonga

From Hindi टाँगा (ṭāṅgā).

• tanga

A tonga

tonga (plural tongas)

1. (India) A light, two-wheeled, horse-drawn carriage used for transportation in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
   • 1890, Rudyard Kipling, Plain Tales from the Hills:

     Coming up along the Cart-Road a tonga passed me, and my pony, tired with standing so long, set off at a canter.

   • 1924, EM Forster, A Passage to India, Penguin, published 2005, page 13:

     When his tyre went flat, he leapt off and shouted for a tonga.

From Tonga.

tonga (uncountable)

1. (medicine) A drug useful in neuralgia, derived from a Fijian plant supposed to be of the aroid genus Epipremnum.

• tonga bean

• Atong, on tag, tag on, tango

Inherited from Latin tunica. Doublet of túnica, a learned borrowing.

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic) [ˈtoŋ.ɡə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencian) [ˈtoŋ.ɡa]

tonga f (plural tongues)

1. (historical) a form of tunic worn by Catalan Jews during the Middle Ages

• tongada

• caftà

• “tonga” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

< Tonga

• IPA^(key): /ˈtoŋːɑ/, [ˈt̪o̞ŋːɑ̝]
• Rhymes: -oŋːɑ
• Syllabification^(key): ton‧ga

tonga

1. Tongan (language)

• tango, togan

From Proto-Bantu *-tʊ́nga.

-tonga (infinitive kotonga)

1. to sew, to mend
2. to build

• -tónga

tonga

1. arrived

The talisman sense comes from Etymology 1 of the word.

tonga

1. (Mahafaly, Sakalava) a charm or talisman believed to bring one safely to their destination
2. (by extension) a plant used to make this talisman, the blue porterweed (Stachytarpheta jamaicensis)
3. (Antanosy) rosy periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus)
4. (Bara) Catharanthus longifolius

Inherited from Proto-Polynesian *toŋa (“south wind”), possibly from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *təŋaq (“centre”).

No words for the cardinal directions can be unambiguously reconstructed for Proto-Polynesian, as there would be little use for them on the small Polynesian islands. However, on the much larger North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) and South Island (Te Waipounamu) of New Zealand, the usefulness of such terminology led the Māori to adopt this word for "south".[1]

tonga

1. south

   Synonyms: taitonga, (obsolete) hauta

(compass points)

tapatapātiu	tokerau, raki	kārapu
uru		rāwhiti
uru-mā-tonga	tonga	pitonga

tonga f

1. definite singular of tong

• Hyphenation: ton‧ga

tonga

1. feminine singular of tongo

tonga m (uncountable)

1. Tongan (Austronesian language spoken in Tonga)

   Synonym: tonganês

tonga f (plural tongas)

1. female equivalent of tongo

tonga f (plural tongas)

1. (Angola) land for farming

tonga

1. a kind of yam

From Proto-Tungusic *tuńga. Cognate with Evenki тунӈа (tunŋa), Even ту̇нӈа̇н (tu̇nŋȧn), Oroqen tʊŋŋa, Manchu ᠰᡠᠨᠵᠠ (sunja).

tonga

1. five

• IPA^(key): /ˈtonɡa/ [ˈt̪õŋ.ɡa]
• Rhymes: -onɡa
• Syllabification: ton‧ga

Inherited from Latin tunica. Doublet of túnica, a borrowing.

tonga f (plural tongas)

1. coating (thin outer layer)

   Synonym: tongada

2. (Argentina, Colombia) task, job
3. (Canary Islands, Cuba) heap, pile

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

tonga m or f by sense (plural tongas)

1. a member of the Tonga people of southern Africa

Borrowed from Tongan Tonga, from Samoan toga (“southern”).

tonga m or f by sense (plural tongas)

1. Tongan (someone from Tonga)

• “tonga”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Unknown.

tonga (definite accusative tongayı, plural tongalar)

1. (slang) cheating, trick