kiau

Ross (1992: 374) notes that Kuanua has kiau, Romoaaina kiaau, and Kandas (Southern New Ireland) kiau. (Mihalic had New Hanover, kiau, ‘bush hen’).

See original Mihalic entry.

Noun forms

1. Fauna: an egg
   kiau i sting pinis the egg is rotten
   kiau i gat blut a half-hatched egg
   nupela kiau fresh egg
   kiau bilong laus pulap long gras bilong pikinini the child‘s hair is full of louse eggs
   sindaun long kiau to sit on eggs, to brood

2. Medicine: a pill
   kiau kinin a quinine pill

3. a light bulb
   kiau bilong sutlam a bulb for a torch or flashlight
   kiau i paia pinis the bulb is burnt out

Verb phrase forms

4. Fauna: putim kiau to lay eggs (birds, reptiles, insects)

5. brukim kiau to be the first to do something when others have failed; to break a deadlock; to get a score off zero (from the resemblance of zero to the shape of an egg) ® brukim kiau

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