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KIWI SLANG : New Zealand Speaking Guide

A

A Balls Up -- Mistake
Aeroplane -- airplane
Afternoon tea -- a short break from work in afternoon
Agro -- aggressive/aggression
Aotearoa -- Maori name for New Zealand
Arse -- Ass
Arvo -- Afternoon
Aussie -- Australian

B

Basin -- bathroom sink
Bassinet -- baby cradle
Bach -- small holiday house, usually at the beach
Backblocks, Back of Beyond -- Inland Country
Barbie -- Bar-B-Que
Barney -- Argument
Bathroom -- room containing a bath/shower, not a euphemism for toilet
Battler, as in Aussie Battler -- someone who battles on copes
Bench -- kitchen counter
Berm -- grass strip at side of road
Biscuit -- cookie
Blimey, also Gorblimey -- exclaimation of surprise or approval
Bloke -- man
Blood Oath -- in agreement
Blotto -- Drunk
Bludge -- impose on someone; to take advantage of them
A Blue -- Name for a red head Australian
Bog -- toilet
Bonk -- sexual intercourse
Bonzer -- Excellent
Bonnet -- car hood
Boot -- car trunk
Bot -- A Germ as in I've got the Bot -- The Flu
Boxing day -- a public holiday on December 26th
Box of Birds -- In good health
Bum -- butt
Bush -- forest or scrub wilderness
Bush shirt -- kind of woollen outdoors shirt

C

Candyfloss -- cotton candy
Capping university -- graduation ceremony
Caravan -- small towed mobile home
Carton -- box
Cheeky -- humorously impertinent
Chemist -- pharmacy/drugstore
Chilly bin -- portable insulated cooler box
Chips -- french fries
Chippy -- carpenter
Chook -- slang for chicken
Cinema -- movie theatre
Circular -- mailbox flier
Cobber -- Friend
College -- high school, not university
Commentator -- announcer
Cordial -- generic sweet colored drink
Cornflour -- cornstarch
Cot -- child's crib
Courgette -- zucchini
Crackers -- crazy
Crayfish -- edible lobster-like saltwater crustacean
Creche -- daycare center
Creek -- stream
Crescent -- Wrench (NZ term)
Crook -- sick
Cuppa -- Cup of Tea

D

Dag -- humorous person
Dairy -- small shop that sells dairy products and other incidentals
Dead Ringer -- Strikingly Similar
Dear -- expensive
Dinner suit -- tuxedo
Dodgems -- bumper cars
Docking -- castrating lambs
Dole -- unemployment benefit
Doughnut -- kind of cake filled with cream and jam, not an American donut
Draughts -- checkers - the board game
Duster -- blackboard eraser
Dummy -- baby pacifier
Dunny -- toilet
Duvet -- comforter on bed
Dux -- academically top student in final year high school class

E

Earth -- electrical ground
Entree -- appetizer, not main course
Electorate -- local voting district
Exercise book -- school workbook

F

Fair Dinkum -- Honest!
Fair Go! -- Be reasonable!
Felt-tip pen -- marker pen
Filled roll -- sub sandwich
Film -- movie
Fizzy drink -- soda pop, i.e., carbonated softdrink
Flannel -- washcloth
Flat -- apartment
Flat out -- full speed
Flat stick -- full speed
Flatmate -- someone you share a flat with
Flog -- steal
Floor it -- accelerate fast
Footpath -- sidewalk
Form 1 - Form 7 -- grades at intermediate and secondary school
Fortnight -- two weeks
Freezing works -- meat processing factory
Frock -- dress

G

Gallops kind of horse racing
Gidday hello
Give it heaps try hard
Glovebox car glove compartment
Godzone New Zealand
Good nick good condition
Grotty run-down/worn-out/dirty
Ground floor first floor
Gumboots rubber boots

H

Handbag purse
Hangi Maori underground cooking pit
Hard case wicked personality
Headmaster/Headmistress school principal
Health camp vacation camp for underprivileged children
Health stamp postage stamp supporting health camps
Heaps lots, as in "give it heaps"
Hire rent
Hockey field hockey, not ice hockey
Hokey-pokey an ice-cream flavor
Holiday vacation
Hoon lout
Hooray goodbye
Hotdog corndog
Hot water cupboard linen closet containing hot water heater
Hot water cylinder household hot water heater

I

Ice block popsicle Intermediate school junior-high school

J

Jandals flip-flops, i.e., kind of rubber footwear
Janola bleach
Jelly jello
Jellymeat canned pet food
Jersey sweater
Judderbar speed bump
Jug kettle
Jumper sweater

K

Kai Food
Kindy kindergarten
Kip sleep
Kiwi New Zealander or flightless bird native to New Zealand, never a contraction of kiwifruit
Knackered exhausted
Knickers underwear/panties
Kumara sweet potato

L

Ladybird ladybug
Lavatory toilet
Lay by lay away
Lemon squash lemonade
Lemonade clear, lemon-flavored softdrink, e.g., 7-Up or Sprite
Lift elevator
Local rag local newspaper
Lolly sweet
Long drop outdoor toilet built over a hole in the ground Loo toilet
Lounge living room
Lounge suite sofa

M

Maori indigenous people of New Zealand
Marrow overgrown zucchini
Mate friend
Metal road gravel road
Milo hot chocolate drink
Mince ground beef
Morning tea a short break from work in the morning
Mozzie Mosquito
Motorway freeway
Mountain oysters testicles from castrated lambs
Mr. Whippy van that sells ice-cream cones
Mum Mom

N

Nana grandmother
Nappy diaper
Netball basketball-like sport played by women
Nick steal
No Flies on me I'm not gullible
Note monetary bill
Nought zero

O

O.E. Overseas Experience - a prolonged period traveling/working/vacationing overseas
Oz Australia

P

Paddock field
Pakeha person of European descent; also means long pork
Pamphlet brochure
Panelbeater automobile body shop
Paper class at university
Paua abalone
Pawpaw papaya
Pavlova kind of dessert
Petrol gasoline
Petrol station gas station
Pictures movies
Pikelet small pancake
Pinch steal
Pissed drunk
Pissed off annoyed
Pissing down raining hard
Plaster bandaid
Plonk cheap wine
Plonked drunk
Pom Englishman
Post a letter mail a letter
Pozzie A Place, position
Pram baby carriage
Primary school elementary school
Primmer 1 - Primmer 4 grades at primary school
Propelling pencil mechanical pencil
Pub bar
Pudding the dessert course of a meal
Pull your finger out Hurry Up!
Pupil student
Purse woman's wallet
Pushchair baby stroller

Q

Queue line of people

R

Randy horny
Rat-bag contemptible person
Rellies relatives
Rice bubbles rice krispies
Ring call on the telephone
Roadworks road repairs
Rock melon cantalope
Root Sexual Intercourse
Ropeable Angry
Roundabout circular traffic intersection
Rubber eraser - the misunderstandings that can arise are famous
Rubbish garbage
Rubbish tin garbage can
Rucksack backpack

S

Sammies sandwiches
Sandshoes canvas sneakers
Scrogum trail mix
Scungy run-down/worn-out/dirty
Secondary school high school
Section plot of land
Serviette table napkin
Shanks' pony walking
Sheila woman
Shicker Drunk
Shift move house
Shifter -- Wrench (OZ term)
Shorts movie trailers
Silverbeet Swiss chard
Singlet sleeveless undershirt
Sit an exam take an exam
Skivvy kind of shirt
Slikkapad thing that you freeze and put inside a chilly bin
Smoko a short break from work, e.g., 5-15 minutes
Snags Sausages
Solicitor lawyer
Spanner wrench
Standard 1 - Standard 4 grades at primary school
State house rental house owned by the government
Stuffed exhausted
Sussed understood
Sulky South Island version of pram/pushchair
Supper late evening meal/snack
Sweet As Everythings OK
Swimming togs swimming suit
Swot study

T

Ta thank you
Takeaways take-out food
Tata goodbye
Taxi cab
Tartan plaid
Tea dinner
Teatime dinner time
Telly TV
Terraces bleachers
Tertiary education education above secondary school, e.g., university
The States the U.S.A.
Tiki Maori figurine
Tin can, e.g., tinned food
Tin Arse or Tinny Lucky
Tinny Can of Beer
Tinfoil aluminum foil
Tip garbage dump
Toe Rag A Jerk or Looser
Togs see "swimming togs"
Toilet room containing a toilet
Toll call [spam word detected] call
Tomato sauce ketchup/catsup
Torch flashlight
Towbar trailer hitch
Tracksuit sweatshirt and sweatpants
Tramping hiking
Trots kind of horse racing
Trousers pants
Tucker food
Turps, On the Drinking
Twink white-out

U

V

Varsity abbreviation for university
Verge grass strip at side of road

W

Walkshorts dressy shorts for men's business attire ... believe it or not!
Wank masturbate
Wanker jerk
Watersider stevedore
Wharfie stevedore
Wool yarn
Wops rural areas

X

Y

Yank-tank large american automobile

Z

Zed the last letter of the alphabet
Ziff A Beard Australia