Opawa (/oʊpɑːwɑː/; Māori: Ōpāwaho) is an inner residential suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located approximately 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) south-east of the city centre. Prior to European settlement, much of the area consisted of marshlands and mixed-use vegetation. By the 1850s, the area was sparsely populated by settlers and became a dairying locality, with many of the early settlers being farmers and people of English descent. Opawa had little development in its early years as it transitioned into a residential suburb.

An early sign of an emerging European community in the area was the arrival of Rev. William Willock, an early settler area who built a cottage titled "Opawaha Cottage", a reference to the Māori name of the area. Another early European settler, Joshua Strange Williams, abbreviated his property as "Opawa Farm". Opawa, eventually became the recognised name for the area. As Woolston emerged as an industrial hub nearby, Opawa was heavily urbanised. This transformed it into an upscale residential area with a population largely consisting of factory workers and businesspeople. Opawa and its neighbouring suburb of Hillsborough were also formerly home to multiple brickmaking and clay related-industries. Though the suburb is predominantly residential at present time, and lies mostly within a U-shaped bend of the Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River. Opawa was amalgamated in to the Greater-Christchurch city area in October 1916.

At a national level, the suburb is part of the Christchurch Central parliamentary electorate. Locally, it is part of the Heathcote Ward for local body elections. The suburb contains three primary schools and two kindergartens. The suburb hosts two local sports clubs; the Opawa Bowling Club and the Opawa Lawn Tennis Club. Additional sporting amenities are located in Hansen Park which accommodates two rugby fields, two football fields and the clubrooms of a local athletics club.

Its population largely consists of European New Zealanders, and contains numerous landmarks known for their connection with the early settlers in the area. Notable individuals associated with the suburb include politician William Pember Reeves, wartime women's labour administrator Noeline Baker, and Anthony Wilding, one of New Zealand's most successful tennis players.

The toponymy of 'Opawa' is an anglicisation and an abbreviation of the Māori name for the area, Ōpāwaho, a name it shares with its neighbouring river. Ōpāwaho is a combination of Ō which means 'a part of' and pā and waho which means 'outer' or 'outside a defined area'. Ōpawaho could also translate to 'the seawards pā' or 'an outpost pā'. The first anglicised names of Ōpāwaho were 'Oparia' and 'Oporia' first seen used in April 1844, though these spellings are no longer in common usage. Another archaic spelling for the area is 'Opawaha', used in the 1850s. The anglicised name, 'Opawa', was first known to be used by early European settler Joshua Strange Williams to address his property. The name, Opawa, was first known to the Lyttelton Times in 1862.

Māori began to settle in the Christchurch area in 1250 AD and Māori settlements were scattered throughout the area. A kāinga was located near the present-day Vincent Place and Judge Street intersection. It was also a resting place for travellers between Kaiapoi Pā and the Banks Peninsula. The land in this area was marshy and covered with raupō and tussock. Māori lived in the marshy regions of Opawa and used its surrounding swamplands, creeks and the river as an abundant food source of duck (pārera), lamprey (kanakana) and eels (tuna).

The name of the Māori kāinga itself was Poho-Areare (meaning 'piegon breasted'). It is also the name of an early rangatira (chief) of the settlement and the name is also applied to an old Māori walking track that led from the village over the sandhills to the kāinga in South New Brighton (Te Kai-a-Te-Karoro). Later, Tūrakipō was the Opawa settlement's chief. A hapū of Ngāi Tahu built the Poho-Areare village in the 18th century and the name given to this hapū was Ō-Roto-Repo meaning 'swamp dwellers'.

In 1927, a local resident of Opawa "Mr. Rees", discovered a skull and some bones, which are believed to be those of a Māori person. A piece of pounamu (greenstone) was also discovered at the site near the Poho-Areare settlement, beside the Ōpāwaho / Heathcote River. Mr. Rees's discovery could indicate the area could have been a tapu (sacred) burial site for Māori.