big – nui
A man presents a child with a gigantic egg. The man says “I just bought you this new egg.”
small – iti
A tiny mouse is busy eating a pile of biscuits much bigger than itself.
heavy – taimaha
Lying on the ground is a large stopwatch, or timer. The timer is so heavy that it takes four men to move it.
light – māmā
A jar of Marmite is so light that it beings to float up off the kitchen bench.
Height – ikeike
A woman is standing between two very tall, scary looking men. She turns to one and screams, then turns to the other and screams. Her reaction was “Eeek! Eeek!”
narrow – kūiti
A woman pulls a coat through a very narrow ring.
Length – roa
A single rower sits and rows a ridiculously long canoe.
Size – rahi
A ray of sunlight shines from the clouds onto a plant, which then grows to an enormous size.
tall – teitei
On top of a really tall golf tee is a pot of tea. It is the tee tea.
short – poto
A very short man walks along with a pot belly and a pot on his head.
weigh – pauna(-tia)
On a large set of veterinary scales, a vet tries to weigh a pony.
wide – whānui
An extremely wide woman with an extremely wide paper fan sits in the heat fanning her face.
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The above is an excerpt from the upcoming Learn Maori Vocabulary With Mnemonics, by Jeff Ngatai, due to be published by VJM Publishing in the summer of 2017/18.