Māori words around the house: rooms and things

The Māori words around the house start with the house itself: house in Māori is whare ‘house, building’, and home is kāinga ‘home’. The rooms include kīhini ‘kitchen’, rūma moe ‘bedroom’ and wharepaku ‘toilet’, and the things in them include moenga ‘bed’, tēpu ‘table’, tūru ‘chair’, tatau ‘door’ and matapihi ‘window’. Below are the rooms and the everyday things, in one table each, with how to say them, the other words for toilet, and the sentences for saying where something is.

Updated 7 November 2026 · 5 min read

Tap 🔊 to hear an example. Māori examples play Papa Reo, the te reo Māori voice made by Te Hiku Media from recordings of native speakers.

House in Māori: whare and kāinga

Whare is the building: a house, a hut, a shed. Kāinga is home, the place you live, and Te Aka also gives it as an address or a village. So tōku whare ‘my house’ is the building and tōku kāinga ‘my home’ is home. Many other buildings are a kind of whare too: whare pukapuka ‘library’, whare karakia ‘church’, wharekai ‘dining hall’ and the wharenui ‘meeting house’ of a marae.

The rooms of the house

Most rooms are rūma, a loan from English, plus what the room is for: noho ‘sit, stay’, moe ‘sleep’, kai ‘food, eat’, kaukau ‘bathe’, horoi ‘wash’. Kīhini and karāti are loans too. A vowel with a macron is held about twice as long; the sounds are set out in the Māori pronunciation guide.

Toilet in Māori: wharepaku, and the other words

Toilet in Māori is wharepaku, also written as two words, whare paku. It is Te Aka Māori Dictionary’s main entry for toilet and the word Verbavia’s course teaches. Te Aka gives three more words with the same meaning:

Wharepaku and whareiti are both whare with a word for small after it, paku and iti. Te Aka’s entry for whareiti quotes the sentence Ko te heketua te kupu ake mō te whareiti., which it translates as “the original word for the toilet is heketua”. The bathroom is a different room: rūma kaukau or rūma horoi.

The answer usually needs a position word, such as kei roto ‘inside’ or kei waho ‘outside’; those are all in directions in Māori. On a marae the toilets are part of the layout, explained in the parts of a marae.

Things around the house

Two words for door: tatau is the door itself, and kūaha is the door or the doorway, the way in. Tatau is also the verb to count, so the rest of the sentence tells you which. Several words in the table have other meanings in Te Aka as well: whakaata is to show or reflect, pouaka whakaata is made of pouaka ‘box’ and whakaata, and papa is any broad flat surface, the floor among them.

Outside the house

Saying where things are

One pattern does most of the work: kei, which says where something is now, then the place, then the person or thing. The sentences below are all from Verbavia’s course except the window, which is Te Aka’s.

And a few things to say at home:

A house takes the o form of “my”: tōku whare, like ōku kākahu ‘my clothes’. Why is explained in Māori possessives: a and o. The clothes that go in the kāpata kaka have their own page: clothes in Māori.

Labels for the home, classroom and office

Rooms and furniture are the easiest Māori to keep in front of you, because the words can be stuck on the things they name. A label on each door, kīhini, wharepaku, rūma moe, and on the tēpu, tūru and matapihi, is read every time someone walks past.

• Say the word as you use the thing. Open the kūaha, switch on the rama, sit on the tūru.
• Ask where. Kei hea te wharepaku? is the question every visitor needs.
• Count them. The numbers are in Māori numbers, days and months.

More ideas are in Māori for kids and te reo for teachers. Verbavia’s te reo Māori course teaches these words in sentences, free on the web.

Sources

1. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: whare — house, building, residence, dwelling.
2. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: kāinga — home, address, residence, village.
3. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: rūma — room (loan); rūma moe, rūma horoi.
4. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: kīhini — kitchen (loan).
5. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: rūma noho — lounge, living room.
6. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: rūma kai — dining room.
7. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: rūma kaukau and rūma horoi — bathroom.
8. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: wharepaku and whare paku — toilet; synonyms whareiti, heketua, wharetiko.
9. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: whareiti, with the example “Ko te heketua te kupu ake mō te whareiti”.
10. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: whare horoi kākahu — laundry; karāti — garage (loan).
11. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: tatau — door; kūaha — door, entrance; matapihi — window, with the example “Ko te matapihi ki te taha mauī o te kūaha”.
12. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: tuanui — roof; pakitara — wall; papa — floor, any broad flat surface.
13. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: arapiki — stairs.
14. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: moenga, urunga, paraikete and hīti.
15. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: tēpu, tūru and hōpa (loans).
16. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: kāpata — cupboard (loan); kāpata kaka — wardrobe.
17. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: pouaka whakaata — television; pouaka mātao — fridge.
18. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: ōmu — oven; puoto — sink; kōrere — tap.
19. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: tāora, hopi, whakaata (mirror), ārai (curtain) and rama (lamp).
20. Te Aka Māori Dictionary: māra — garden; taiapa — fence.