Palauann.adj.
/pəˈlaʊən/, U.S. /pəˈlaʊən/ A. n.
1. A native or inhabitant of the Palau Islands, now the Republic of Belau, an archipelago of the Caroline Islands of Micronesia.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Pacific islands > [noun]
Otaheitan1769
South Sea Islander1777
Pacific Islander1785
Polynesian1807
Fijian1809
Tahitian1825
Pitcairner1831
Rarotongan1837
Micronesian1847
Tongan1853
Samoan1856
Niuean1863
Solomon Islander1864
Lifuan1873
Cook Islander1888
Gilbertese1902
Nauruan1921
Trobriander1922
Pascuan1937
Palauan1946
Marshallese1948
Trobriand Islander1951
Belauan1974
Tuvaluan1975
1946 Amer. Anthropologist 48 477 The Marshallese resemble Polynesians in appearance..but the Palauans are closer to the Melanesians with darker skins and frequent frizzly hair.
1956 Pacific Affairs 29 368 The Palauans are by Western standards more progressive and ambitious.
1984 Asian Surv. 24 768 On setting up their new constitution, the Palauans have referred to their country as ‘Belau’ and their constitutions as the ‘Constitution of Belau’. However, they themselves are known as ‘Palauans’ and their language as ‘Palauan’.
1996 O. Sacks Island of Colour-blind i. 29 I had become aware of the varied Micronesian world represented among them:..there were Palauans, rather reserved, dignified, with yet another language new to my ears.
2. The Western Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the people of the Palau islands.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Austric > [noun] > Austronesian > Polynesian > Polynesian languages
Maori1828
Rarotongan1835
Samoan1846
Mota1865
Niue1885
Tongan1897
Niuean1899
Marquesan1919
Palauan1953
Pascuense1953
te reo1958
Cook Islands Maori1963
te reo Maori1987
1953 Amer. Speech 28 63 The following derivatives are hard in the area and have appeared in print: Palauan, Ponapean, Kusaiean.
1983 Sea Frontiers 29 34/1 Babeldaop means ‘upper ocean’ in Palauan.
1998 A. Dalby Dict. Langs. 120/2 Palau or Palauan (15,000 speakers) is the language of Belau or Palau, a group of islands in the western Carolines, and also has some speakers in Guam.
B. adj.
1. Of, relating to, or designating the Palauans, their islands, or their culture.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Pacific islands > [adjective]
Otaheitana1771
Tahitian1822
Fijian1846
Samoan1846
Micronesian1847
Niuean1868
Tonga1891
Gilbertese1893
Lifuan1917
Pascuan1940
Palauan1946
Belauan1974
1946 Amer. Anthropologist 48 477 The Marshallese all wear western clothes, but these are of the missionary Mother Hubbard variety and lack the style of Chamorro and Palauan dress.
1953 Nat. Hist. (N.Y.) 62 231 (caption) A typical Palauan outrigger.
1979 Evolution 33 687 The Palauan localities range from inshore areas with mangrove and Enhalua acoroides grass meadows..to sheltered coves with a substratum of volcanic rock.
2000 New Scientist 5 Aug. 18/2 Studies of six generations of Palauan families have revealed a gene on chromosome 2 that is linked to the illness, and which has spread through the small isolated population.
2. Of, relating to, or designating the Western Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Palauans.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > languages of the world > Austric > [adjective] > Austronesian > of Polynesian languages
Tahitian1822
Rarotongan1836
Niuean1924
Pascuan1940
Palauan1951
Pascuense1960
1951 C. A. Manchester in O. W. Freeman Geography of Pacific ix. 248 The Palauan language is thought to be of Indonesian origin, but it shows definite affinity with some of the Philippine languages.
1975 Language 51 556 Palauan vowel reduction in unstressed syllables is a phonetically motivated process.
1992 Sea Frontiers (Nexis) 38 24 The Palauan word for the legislative branch of their national government..means ‘arriving at a decision by whispering’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.adj.1946