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Since May Day is Lei Day in Hawaiʻi, there are many lei day pageants happening at this time of the year. Most include a royal court, and a hōʻike — a show! Hōʻike means “to show.” -
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.
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Pololei means correct. Pololei ʻoe means “you are correct.” -
Iwakālua, meaning twenty, is our Hawaiian word for today, and a good one to learn since it is a little different from all the other numbers in our counting. -
Pulelehua is the Hawaiian word for butterfly. There are so many beautiful butterflies in Hawaiʻi, it's good to know what to call them. -
Our Hawaiian word for today is something we all like to eat, often with kālua pig. Kāpiki means cabbage. The next time you order kālua pig and cabbage, call it kāpiki. -
Our Hawaiian word for today is kāpae, meaning to throw out, discard. Before you kāpae your old clothing, think about others who might be able to use them. Perhaps you could give them to someone, or to the Salvation Army or Goodwill industries. -
If you listen to Hawaiian speakers, you often hear the word mea. Mea just means “thing,” and it can be used in so many different ways, usually with a modifier. A mea hula is a dancer, a mea nui is a large or important thing, and a mea oli is a chanter. -
Our Hawaiian word for today is another common one, a word we can all use everyday. ʻŌmole is the Hawaiian word for jar, any kind of jar. -
We all have them, and we all clean them, and we should know what to call them. Our Hawaiian word for today is niho, for tooth. Next time you're going to see your dentist, remember today's word: niho. See if the dentist knows how to say the word “tooth” in Hawaiian! -
Our Hawaiian word for today is a new one, pāmia. It means used, as in second hand. So a second hand car is a kaʻa pāmia. -
Wili which means “to wind, twist, crank, screw,” is a word you often hear with regard to leis. And it is but one method of making leis.
