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New Zealand
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An island country in the southern Pacific Ocean southeast of Australia. Maori groups probably migrated to New Zealand from Polynesia by the late 1200s. Visited by Abel Tasman in 1642, the islands were more thoroughly explored by Capt. James Cook in three voyages between 1769 and 1777. The British established their first permanent settlement in 1840 and claimed the region as a crown colony. New Zealand received dominion status in 1907 and became fully independent in 1931. Wellington is the capital and Auckland the largest city.

New Zealand·er n.
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New Zealand

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.