Polynesia

American  

[pol-uh-nee-zhuh, -shuh] / ˌpɒl əˈni ʒə, -ʃə /

noun

1. one of the three principal divisions of Oceania, comprising those island groups in the Pacific Ocean lying east of Melanesia and Micronesia and extending from the Hawaiian Islands south to New Zealand.

---

Polynesia British  

/ -ʒɪə, ˌpɒlɪˈniːʒə /

noun

1. one of the three divisions of islands in the Pacific, the others being Melanesia and Micronesia: includes Samoa, Society, Marquesas, Mangareva, Tuamotu, Cook, and Tubuai Islands, and Tonga

---

Polynesia Cultural  

1. Group of islands in the central and southern Pacific Ocean, including the islands of the state of Hawaii and the islands of French Polynesia. Tahiti and Samoa are in Polynesia, which means “many islands.”

---

Etymology

Origin of Polynesia

C18: via French from _poly- + Greek nēsos island

Example Sentences

Pasifika heritage encompasses the indigenous peoples of Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia, with Upper Hutt-born Rennie having Cook Islands links through his mother.

From BBC • Mar. 4, 2026

"They poisoned us," Hinamoeura Cross, a 37-year-old Tahitian parliamentarian who was aged seven when France detonated its last nuclear explosion near her home in French Polynesia in 1996.

From Barron's • Jan. 22, 2026

To reconstruct past rainfall, researchers collected sediment cores from Tahiti and Nuku Hiva in Eastern Polynesia and examined plant waxes -- fatty layers left on leaves.

From Science Daily • Dec. 15, 2025

An ambitious novel of exploration and discovery from the author of “The Orphan Master’s Son” is set, centuries ago, among warring communities in Polynesia.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 15, 2025

Hawaiian labor corvees built elaborate irrigation systems for taro fields yielding up to 24 tons per acre, the highest crop yields in all of Polynesia.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond