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Hawaiian Word of The Day

Hawaiian Word of the Day

Hawaiian Word of the Day: May 13th

By Leilani Poliʻahu

Published May 13, 2025 at 12:00 AM HST

Pāʻani means to play, or a sport, game, or amusement. Pāʻani can also mean to joke.

Pāʻani means to play, or a sport, game, or amusement. Pāʻani can also mean to joke.

Hawaiian Word of the Day

Leilani Poliʻahu

See stories by Leilani Poliʻahu

More Episodes

Hawaiian Word of The Day

Hawaiian Word of the Day: December 12th

Leilani Poliʻahu

Need a very generic Hawaiian word for a tool or apparatus that you might call a doohickey in English? Try hāmea, a new Hawaiian word, and a great new word for that little thing you use, but can't remember what to call it.
Hawaiian Word of The Day

Hawaiian Word of the Day: December 11th

Leilani Poliʻahu

Our Hawaiian word for today is a well-known place name on Kauaʻi, Poʻipū. It is often mispronounced because people see the first three letters as a group and pronounce it as they would poi. It means crashing, as in wave action.