Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
🏝️ From Samoa 🧑🏽‍🦱 A person from Samoa 🧑🏽‍🦱 A person from Samoa
Samoan

Samoan

1 4.9
A person who lives on the Samoan Islands in the South Pacific
  • noun
  • /səˈmoʊən/
translation icon : samoano
  • The festival was a wonderful opportunity for Samoans to showcase their food and customs.

Now we're losing customers and losing Samoans.

Examples

  • When visiting Hawaii, I met several Samoans who shared fascinating stories about their homeland.

  • NH = Native Hawaiians. S = Samoans, C/G = **26;5552;TOOLONG 2: Number of Articles, by Thematic Content for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders

    Academic text (2008)

  • You Samoans are all the same.

    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

  • You Samoans are all the same.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Many Samoans celebrate their cultural heritage through traditional dances and music.

Synonyms

Polynesian
vsSamoan
1 4.4

A person from the islands of Polynesia

is from a specific group of islands in the South Pacific
Oceanian
vsSamoan
4.6

A person who is from or lives in Oceania

is from a small group of islands in the South Pacific

Compounds

classic Samoan time
  • Offensive
9.9

A joking way to say people often arrive later than planned in Samoa

Samoan Islands
3.9

A group of volcanic islands in the South Pacific with warm tropical climate and Polynesian culture

Samoan time
  • Australian
9.7

A relaxed way of keeping time when people often arrive late

Surface Forms

Samoan singular
Samoans plural

Morphology

Samoan = Samoa (transparent) = Samoa + an

Formed by the place name 'Samoa' plus the regular demonym/adjectival suffix '-an', so the relation is straightforward for learners.

Etymology

Samoan comes from the place name Samoa, a group of islands in the South Pacific, and originally meant 'from Samoa'. So a Samoan is a person who comes from those islands.