wetaとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源

Borrowed from Maori wētā.

発音

• (英国発音) IPA: /ˈwɛtə/
• (New Zealand) IPA: /ˈweːtʌː/, /ˈwedə/

名詞

weta (plural weta or wetas)

1. (New Zealand) Any of about 70 insect species in the families Anostostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae, endemic to New Zealand, resembling katydids or crickets.
   • 1982, Janet Frame, An Angel at my Table, Virago, published 2024, page 5:

     We came to know by heart […] her excitement on her first day at school at seeing a weta crawling on brother Willy's knee (‘Oooh, look on Willy's knee!’) […] .

   • 2003, Michael King, The Penguin History of Aotearoa New Zealand, Penguin, published 2023, page 10:

     It also carried […] the forebears of wētā insects and the worm-caterpillar peripatus.

派生語

アナグラム

• Tewa, Tawe, tawe