Where does “Ngāi” come from?

Ngāi (English) comes from Maori Ngāti, from Proto-Celtic -āti, from Proto-Indo-European -h₂ti — Forms factitive verbs from adjective stems.

Ngāi (English): Any of three Chinese surnames of Cantonese origin, used primarily in Hong Kong

Definitions

  1. Any of three Chinese surnames of Cantonese origin, used primarily in Hong Kong

Ancestry of “Ngāi”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1MaoriNgāti—
2Proto-Celtic-ātiForms verbs from nouns and adjectives
3Proto-Indo-European-h₂tiForms factitive verbs from adjective stems
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -h₂ti →Every word from Proto-Celtic -āti →Every word from Maori Ngāti →