hei-tikin.
/heɪˈtɪki/, U.S. /ˌheɪˈtɪki/, New Zealand English /heiˈtiki/, /hæeˈtɪki/ New Zealand.
A greenstone neck-ornament worn by Maoris.
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the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > types of ornamentation > jewellery > neck ornaments > [noun] > other neck ornaments
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hei-tiki1835
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1835 W. Yate Acct. N.Z. (ed. 2) 151 The hei-tiki being taken off the neck, laid down..and then wept and sung over.
1843 E. Dieffenbach Trav. N.Z. II. iv. 55 Around the neck both sexes generally wear a figure cut out of jade. This they call E' Tiki: it has an enormous head, very large eyes, and monstrous and disproportionate arms and legs.
1880 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 540/1 The hideous breast ornament termed hei tiki.
1887 Colonial & Indian Exhib., London 1886: Rep. Colonial Sections 74 Heitikis or native deities.
1936 ‘R. Hyde’ Check to your King 153 Queer little amulets, some of which, the hei-tikis, were in the shape of the human embryo.
1949 P. H. Buck Coming of Maori (1950) ii. xii. 295 The term tiki was applied to the carved human figures set up at the gable end of important houses. When the ornaments in human form were made, they were also termed tiki but, to distinguish them from the larger wooden tiki, the nephrite ornaments were termed hei tiki, hei meaning to tie around the neck.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.1835