Va'a

thumb|right|220px|John La Farge 1891 painting of girls carrying a vaʻa at Vaiala, [[Samoa.]]

Vaʻa is a word in Samoan and Tahitian which means 'boat', 'canoe' or 'ship'. It is cognate with other Polynesian words such as vaka or the Māori word waka. It is also known as the '''Wa'a' in Hawaiian.