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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. -
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.
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Our Hawaiian Word of the Day is another short phrase you can use, auē ka nani. And it means, "how beautiful." -
Our Hawaiian word for today is really a short and useful phrase, naʻu e uku. It means "my treat" or "I'll pay." -
Luahine means old woman. Luahine is most often used by non-Hawaiian speakers as a proper name, as in the great hula dancer ʻIolani Luahine. -
Kaʻahumanu, a beautiful Hawaiian name, and it means the bird cloak or the favorite cloak. It is the name of the favorite wife of King Kamehameha the Great. -
While you most often hear Palani as the Hawaiian transliteration of the name Frank or Frances, it also means France or French. We don't have a lot of Palani in Hawaiʻi, but there are many in Tahiti. -
Our Hawaiian word for today is a short phrase, kekahi i kekahi. It means each other, one another. It is often heard by folks who use it to describe how we should love one another. E aloha kekahi i kekahi. -
Puʻunēnē is a place on the island of Maui, and a beautiful name that is all too often mispronounced. It is named for a hill – a puʻu – where you might find the nēnē goose, our state bird: goose hill. -
Millions of people see it every year, but few know that the bay that extends from Honolulu Harbor to Pearl Harbor is called Māmala. -
Maʻa mau is two words that mean common, usual, customary. Chinese food is the meaʻai maʻa mau for a lot of people in Hawaiʻi. He mea maʻa mau—a common thing. -
Kiʻi means “picture, a photo, a doll, statue, any image.” It also means “to fetch something” and both are commonly used. Such as E kiʻi ʻoe ke kiʻi—fetch the picture.
