New Zealand English was created by colonists during the 19th century. The language (vocabulary, accent, register, tone, and grammar) is mainly influenced by English speakers from Australia, Southern England, Ireland, Scotland and also the Maori language spoken by the New Zealand indigenous group.

Watch the short clip below for some insight on the New Zealand accent.

Intonation

The New Zealand accent is most similar with the Australian accent. Like the Australian Accent its main intonation feature is the high rising terminal, which means that statements are uttered with rising intonation as if they were questions.

Commonly used New Zealand Slang

New Zealand slang is widely spoken across the country. It consists of words or phrases that are mainly considered as informal and most often used in speech.

Word	Meaning	Example
all good	everything’s fine	How’s the assessment going? All good!
bonnet and boot	hood and trunk of car	Can you please open up the bonnet and boot?
bro	used in place of ‘mate’ or ‘dude’	What’s up, bro?
buggered	tired	I’m so buggered, I need to sleep.
bugger off	go away	You’re annoying the hell out of me, bugger off!
carked it	to have died	His cat just carked it not long ago.
Chrissie	Christmas	Where are you going for Chrissie?
cuppa	a hot drink, usually a cup of tea or coffee	Would you like a cuppa?
cuz	short for cousin	Hey Cuz, how’s it going?
dairy	a corner shop or mini supermarket	I’m popping to the dairy for some bread and milk
dodgy	bad	That table looks dodgy, don’t buy it.
fizzy drink	soda	I’d like to try your fizzy drink.
gizza	give us a…	That cakes looks delicious, gizza!
Haka	a traditional Maori dance	The All Blacks always perform the Haka before a match .
hard case	a funny or witty person	What do you think of Ben? Oh, he’s a hard case.
hosing down	raining heavily	It’s hosing down outside.
hot chips	french fries	I love the hot chips from KFC better than Macca’s.
jandals	flip flops or thongs	Remember to wear your jandals in the shower.
kick the bucket	to die	He kicked the bucket two days ago.
Kiwi	can refer to a New Zealander, or the country’s national bird	Are you an Aussie or a Kiwi?
knackered	exhausted or tired	I was knackered when I got off duty.
Macca’s	McDonald’s	Let’s go to Macca’s for breakfast.
Maori	indigenous people of New Zealand	The Maori’s always have family gatherings.
piece of piss	describe something that’s very easy	Completing the homework was a piece of piss.
pissed	to be drunk or heavily intoxicated	What happened to him? He got pissed and fell down the stairs.
pressie	presents	I’m going out to shop for some pressies.
rellies	relatives or family	This Easter long weekend I’m visiting my rellies in Auckland.
scull	to drink an alcoholic drink quickly without stopping	Let’s see who’s the first to scull it all down.
shout	to treat someone to a meal	Are you free tonight? I’ll shout you dinner.
smashed	to be drunk or heavily intoxicated	They were smashed before the party really got going.
sparkie	electrician	I think we should call the sparkie to fix the wires.

Watch the video below which features Lucky and Andy quizzing each other on American and New Zealand slang.


Indicate whether the slang is American or New Zealand.