Rata
name, noun ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Any of various New Zealand plants of the genus Metrosideros. countable, usually
- 2 yellow mangosteen (Garcinia dulcis), a tree native to Indonesia, the Philippines, and India.
- 3 The hard dark red wood of trees of genus Metrosideros. uncountable, usually
- 1 Any of several legendary heroes in various Polynesian mythologies, notably associated with canoe building; in the context of comparative mythology, these figures are frequently identified with each other, resulting in as few as one or two distinct identities.
"The epics from other Polynesian islands may differ in detail, but in all of them, Rata (also known as Laska, Lasa, Aka, Raka) remains the illustrious canoe builder whose expertise in seafaring has never been surpassed."
Example
More examples"The epics from other Polynesian islands may differ in detail, but in all of them, Rata (also known as Laska, Lasa, Aka, Raka) remains the illustrious canoe builder whose expertise in seafaring has never been surpassed."
Etymology
] From Māori rātā or cognate Tahitian rātā (“tree of genus Metrosideros”). Compare Tahitian puarātā (“Metrosideros collina”).
Compare Sinhalese රට ගොරකා (raṭa gorakā, “Garcinia xanthochymus”), Marathi रातंबी (rātambī, “Garcinia indica”).
Related phrases
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.