June 16th: Mōʻī

By Leilani Poliʻahu

Published June 16, 2026 at 12:00 AM HST

Mōʻī means "king, sovereign, monarch." And mōʻī followed the word wahine means "queen." The word mōʻī is of recent origin, and may be used by itself to mean a monarch of either gender.

Hawaiian Word of the Day

Leilani Poliʻahu

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Dig into the Hawaiʻi Public Radio archives with Derrick Malama and listen to the very best of Hawaiian music. Revisit sessions with Eddie Kamae and Keola Beamer, Raiatea Helm and Amy Hanaialiʻi, and more.

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Hawaiian Word of The Day

September 29th: ʻAuina lā

Leilani Poliʻahu

Our Hawaiian word for today is ʻAuina lā. ʻAuina means “descending” and lā means “sun.” So the afternoon when the sun is setting is called the ʻauina lā. Aloha ʻauina lā is a good afternoon greeting.
Hawaiian Word of The Day

September 28th: Piʻi mele

Leilani Poliʻahu

Piʻi mele, two words that used together mean “musical scale.” Just as we sometimes call the scale do-re-mi in English, in Hawaiian we sometimes call the piʻi mele by the first three notes: pā-kō-lī.