Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🗿 A stone statue 🤝 A support group
moai

moai

8 9.9
A large stone statue carved by the Rapa Nui people on Easter Island
  • noun
  • /moʊˈaɪ/
: moai
  • The largest standing moai is nearly 33 feet tall and weighs 82 tons.

If when you get back there, pull up some pictures of the Moai statues on Easter Island.

Examples

  • Most people know the Chilean Polynesian island for its moai, large, personified stone monoliths with very large features.

    Blog text (18)

  • A first step will be to assess the moai and their environment in detail.

    Academic text (2009)

  • The moai face a number of threats:

    Academic text (2009)

  • Some moai were erected on stone platforms called ahu.

    Academic text (2009)

  • How can one not marvel at the majesty of the moai of Rapa Nui?

    Academic text (2008)

  • When life on Easter Island flourished, a dozen or so clans venerated deities in the form of moai installed on elaborate platforms.

    Academic text (2008)

  • The largest standing moai is nearly 33 feet tall and weighs 82 tons.

  • There are some four hundred moai here, more than in any other spot on the island.

  • How can one not marvel at the majesty of the moai of Rapa Nui?

Surface Forms

moai singular
moais plural

Etymology

Moai comes from the Rapa Nui language of Easter Island and was the local name for the big carved stone 'statues' the island people placed around their villages. So today a moai means those large human-shaped stone figures from Easter Island.