Hawaiian Word of the Day: September 6th

By Leilani Poliʻahu

Published September 6, 2024 at 12:00 AM HST

Kumu means source, foundation, basis, root. Nānā i ke kumu means to look at the source, and we use the same word for teacher. ‘O wau ke kumu—I am the teacher.

Hawaiian Word of the Day

Leilani Poliʻahu

See stories by Leilani Poliʻahu

More Episodes

Hawaiian Word of The Day

Hawaiian Word of the Day: July 2nd

Leilani Poliʻahu

Another beautiful Hawaiian name that is so often mispronounced is Kalanianaʻole and it means “the chief without measure.” It is a name given to so many prominent landmarks and the one that seems to give a lot of trouble to people in the broadcast media.
Hawaiian Word of The Day

Hawaiian Word of the Day: July 1st

Leilani Poliʻahu

Iulai is the Hawaiian name for the month of July, the seventh month of the modern calendar. Yes, Iulai is a borrowed word from English. In fact, all of the names of the months of the calendar we now use are borrowed. Since the Hawaiian calendar of months did not coincide with that of the Europeans.