June 22nd: Hiapo

By Leilani Poliʻahu

Published June 22, 2026 at 12:00 AM HST

Hiapo means "firstborn." It is used often in Hawaiian to describe the eldest child, the firstborn. Like many cultures, there is a special significance attached to being the firstborn, or hiapo, in a Hawaiian family.

Hawaiian Word of the Day

Leilani Poliʻahu

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Hawaiian Word of The Day

June 19th: Lani

Leilani Poliʻahu

Today’s Hawaiian word of the day is one of the most commonly used of Hawaiian words, lani. It means "sky, heaven, or heavenly," and can also mean "spiritual." Lani is part of many proper names, such as Leilani for “heavenly lei.”
Hawaiian Word of The Day

June 18th: Kepanī

Leilani Poliʻahu

Many of our visitors to Hawaiʻi come from Japan, and we call them kepanī. It is, as you may have guessed, a transliteration of the English word Japanese.