kiwi

(kē'wē)

1. Any of several flightless birds of the genus Apteryx native to New Zealand, having vestigial wings and a long slender bill. Also called apteryx.
2. Informal. A New Zealander.
3. A kiwifruit.

[Maori, imitative of the call of male kiwis. Sense 3, short for KIWIFRUIT.]

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Common kiwi (Apteryx australis) (credit: Pictorial Parade)

Any of three species (genus Apteryx) of chicken-sized, grayish brown ratite birds, found in New Zealand. Their Maori name refers to the male's shrill call. Kiwis have vestigial wings hidden within the plumage; nostrils at the tip (rather than the base) of the long flexible bill; soft, hairlike feathers; and stout, muscular legs. Each of the four toes has a large claw. Kiwis live in forests, where they sleep by day and forage for worms, insects and their larvae, and berries at night. They run swiftly and use their claws in defense when cornered.

For more information on kiwi, visit Britannica.com.

It's a bird. It's a fruit. No, it's a person, at least in New Zealand. If you say you're taking a bite of a kiwi, you might just get bitten back.

The first mention of the Maori word kiwi in English was back in 1835, in a description of "the most remarkable and curious bird in New Zealand." It was given the scientific name apteryx, or "wingless," because its wings are so stubby it can't even think of flying. It hardly has a tail, either, and its vision is poor. But it has sturdy legs and a pointed bill, some six inches long, with which it grubs at night for its dinner of grubs and worms. And it burrows underground for its nest; the male takes care of hatching the eggs the female has laid. The bird has a cry that sounds like "kiwi, kiwi"--which may be how the Maori gave it its name.

The kiwi is a relative of the ostrich and emu, and also of the moa, another wingless bird of New Zealand whose name comes from the Maori language. Only bones and feathers of the moa remain; it has been extinct for some time.

New Zealand has adopted the kiwi as its symbol on stamps and money. From this has come the use of kiwi to mean an inhabitant of New Zealand. The Maori are the original native population, and paheka is the Maori term for a white person, but the designation kiwi encompasses them both.

The most familiar kiwi in recent years is neither fowl nor human, but a little brown fruit grown in New Zealand and shipped worldwide, otherwise known as the Chinese gooseberry.

About 100,000 of the more than three million inhabitants of New Zealand speak Maori, a Malayo-Polynesian language of the Austronesian family. A few other Maori words are also current in the English of New Zealand, for example kauri and kowhai, both trees; kahawai, a fish; kumara, a sweet potato, and kai, a general word for food.

A slang term for the New Zealand dollar (NZD). It derives its name from New Zealand's national icon - a flightless bird called a kiwi - which is pictured on one side of the country's $1 coin.

Investopedia Says:
This is a popular term in currency trading because New Zealand's currency exchange rate is closely tied to the price/demand of the country's abundant agricultural and forestry products. It is not uncommon to hear a news report say the kiwi is up, or down, in the day's trading. 

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Rare ratite bird, peculiar to New Zealand. They are brown, tailless, virtually wingless and have plumage resembling hairs rather than feathers. They are nocturnal, about the size of a domestic fowl and have a distinctive cry from which its name derives. Called also Apteryx spp.

• Other land birds
• Fruits

Dansk (Danish)
n. - kiwi, officer der holder sig ved jorden, new-zealænder

Nederlands (Dutch)
kiwi (vrucht/vogel), Nieuw-Zeelander (m.n. sporter)

Français (French)
n. - kiwi, aptéryx, kiwi (fruit), néo-zélandais

Deutsch (German)
n. - Kiwi

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ακτινίδιο, (ορνιθ.) απτέρυξ, κίβι, (καθομ.) Νεοζηλανδός

Italiano (Italian)
kiwi

Português (Portuguese)
n. - kiwi (m)

Русский (Russian)
киви, служащий нелетного состава

Español (Spanish)
n. - kiwi

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kiwifrukt

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
鹬鸵, 猕猴桃

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 鷸鴕, 獼猴桃

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 키위, 뉴질랜드인, 지상 근무원

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - キーウィ

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) نوع من الفاكهه الإستوائيه, طائر الكيوي‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮קיווי - עוף המצוי בניו-זילנד, ניו-זילנדי‬

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