Hawaiian Word of the Day: May 10th

By Leilani Poliʻahu

Published May 10, 2024 at 12:00 AM HST

Nui means big, greatest, grand, important, as in aliʻi nui. Hale nui would be a big house, and mea nui would be an important thing. Used as an adjective, it follows the noun. It can also mean “many or a group.”

Hawaiian Word of the Day

Leilani Poliʻahu

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Hawaiian Word of The Day

Hawaiian Word of the Day: April 30th

Leilani Poliʻahu

Our Hawaiian Word of the Day is moku. We often use moku to mean a district, an island, severed portion, or fragment, or as the root for other common words such as mokuahi for steamship, mokuʻāina for state, mokulele for airplane, or a mokuluʻu for a submarine, a diving ship. But the first use of moku means to be cut, severed, amputated, broken in two. There are many opportunities every day to use that common word, moku.
Hawaiian Word of The Day

Hawaiian Word of the Day: April 29th

Leilani Poliʻahu

Our Hawaiian word today is a good example of the importance of putting the right stress on vowel sounds, or leaving them off. Lolo means brains, and it is from that root word that we get such new words as lolo uila: one of the words for computer – an electric brain. If you say it with stress on both vowels it becomes lōlō, and that means paralyzed, numb, feeble-minded, or crazy. Be careful how you pronounce Hawaiian words.