kiwi
UK[ˈkiːwiː]US[ˈkiːwiː]
n
A flightless bird native to New Zealand, with brownish-gray feathers, a long bill, and short legs.
n
A Chinese gooseberry, a small oval fruit with brown fuzzy skin and bright green flesh.
n
(informal) A person from New Zealand.
Etymology
The word "kiwi" is a direct borrowing from Māori, the language of the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand, where it refers specifically to the flightless bird. The name is onomatopoeic, imitating the distinctive call of the male kiwi bird. European settlers adopted the term in the early 19th century, and it later became a colloquial demonym for New Zealanders. In the mid-20th century, the name was commercially applied to the Chinese gooseberry for marketing purposes, forging a new, now globally dominant, semantic link to the fruit based on its visual resemblance to the fuzzy brown bird.
Analysis
The word "kiwi" is a simplex loanword from the Māori language. It is not productively formed from smaller morphemes within English. Its functional role is as a single, unanalyzable lexical unit.
Examples
The kiwi is a nocturnal bird that uses its long beak to probe for insects in the soil.
She added slices of fresh kiwi to the fruit salad for a tangy flavor.
The team of kiwis performed exceptionally well at the international rugby tournament.