hawaiian

  Makua is a very general term for parent, or any relative of the parent's generation, as in an uncle or aunt. Since the main stock of a plant is thought of as the parent, you can also call it a makua. You can modify it to be more specific, as makua kāne for father.

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

Our Hawaiian word for today is kī hōʻalu. Kī is the Hawaiian word for “key” and hōʻalu means “to slacken or loosen.” It is the popular Hawaiian term for what in English we call “slack key.”

Our Hawaiian word for today is liʻiliʻi. Be sure to include the diacritical pronunciation mark, the backwards apostrophe called the ʻokina. It means small, little, in bits, or few. If you spell it right with the diacritical pronunciation marks, it is easier to pronounce.

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.”

ʻElemakule means old man or to become an old man. Although ʻelemakula also means “old,” use it only for males – there's another word, luahine, for old women. And don't use ʻelemakule as a general term for old or things that are old – there are other words for that too, such as kahiko. Use ʻelemakule only for old men.

One of the most commonly mispronounced place names in Hawaiʻi nei is Līhuʻe, the name of a city and district on Kauaʻi. It means “a cold chill,” and that's the feeling most Hawaiian speakers feel when they hear this beautiful name mispronounced. Write it out with a kahakō over the first vowel, and an ʻokina before the last one. Then say it.

Today's Hawaiian Word of the Day is most often used as a place name. Kapiʻolani is a medical center, a tree-lined boulevard, a park, a school, a playground, and so much more. All are named for Queen Kapiʻolani, wife of Kalākaua. Literally, it means “the arch of heaven,” and refers to the beautiful rainbows so frequently seen in Hawaiʻi. Rainbows signify the presence of royalty in old Hawaiʻi.

Poke means to slice, cut crosswise into pieces. That's why the delicious dish we all love is called poke. There's poke aku, poke heʻe, and a whole variety of poke dishes. Don't put any stress on the vowels, as that will change the meaning, and don't confuse poke, meaning to cut into pieces, with poki, which among other things  is the name of a supernatural dog.

We often hear haole, meaning white person, in a negative connotation, but it is a perfectly good word, and used often in Hawaiian and English conversation. It means foreign, introduced, of foreign origin, or foreign introduction, as plants, pigs, chickens, yes, even people. So in Hawaiian, anyone or anything that is not native to Hawaiʻi is haole, such as koa haole for the foreign scrub brush koa, or ʻāina haole for a foreign land.

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.

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.

Our Hawaiian Word of the Day is kāhea meaning to call out, cry out, invoke, greet, or name. You may not use the word, but you hear its application often when you watch a hula performance and hear one or more of the dancers call out the first lines of a stanza as a cue to the chanter. Put stress on the first vowel.

Almost everyone knows that hula means, but did you know that hulahula means ballroom dancing with partners? Hulahula also means American dancing, ball, or even masked hula dancing. Don't confuse it with hula for the Hawaiian dance. Hulahula also has other meanings, such as the twitching of an eyelid, or the ceremonial killing of a pig and offering it to the gods during ceremonies dedicating a temple.

Māʻili is another one of those commonly used Hawaiian place names that is so often mispronounced, frequently confused with the name of the fragrant vine used as a lei. Today's Hawaiian Word of the Day is Māʻili, name of the community on the Leeward Oʻahu coast . Māʻili is the name of a beach park, surfing area, playground, school, and more.

Our Hawaiian Word of the Day is lānai, a term often used, and most often mispronounced or confused with other similar words. It means porch, veranda, balcony, booth or shed. Don't confuse it with lanai which means stiff backed like a chair, or Lānaʻi, the name of the island. Today's word is lānai – say it with a stress on the first vowel.

Every evening when we look into the sky, and see the planet Venus, we should remember that the stars and planets have Hawaiian names. And hōkūloa, our Hawaiian Word of the Day, is what we call Venus.

Hoʻopulapula means to rehabilitate. That's why we use it to describe homestead lands. They're called ʻāina hoʻopulapula, lands for the rehabilitation of Hawaiians/Homestead lands.

Nahu means to bite. And it can be the bite of anything – from an insect that bites, to the bite of a dog, or even the bite you take out of a piece of cake.

Hoʻonanea means to relax, kick back, mellow out. It's also the name of a beautiful song and hula. E hoʻonanea kākou – let's all kick back.

Mana is another Hawaiian word we often hear in English conversation. People will tell of someone or something having mana – supernatural or divine power. It is also a good adjective, and someone with a leo mana is said to have an authoritative voice.

Often we hear people talking about their ʻaumakua. It means a family god, or personal god, or a deified ancestor. Our ʻaumakua might be a shark or an owl, or even an inanimate object. It is said that ʻaumakua often warn and reprimand mortals in dreams and visions.

A kupua is a demi-god, or cultural hero, especially a supernatural being possessing several forms, one possessing magical powers. Kupua can often change their form and may assume non god-like, very everyday things.

Our Hawaiian word for today is puni meaning surrounded, controlled, overcome. Now that you know how to use the hoʻo prefix, you know that hoʻopuni can mean to surround, enclose, get control of: hoʻopuni.

Our Hawaiian word for today is nahele, for forest. Now you know the common Hawaiian family name, Kanahele, can mean the forest.

Most of us know ipu to be the gourd we see and hear in the hands of many hula dancers and chanters. But it also has other meanings – it can be used to mean any kind of container; even a dish, mug, calabash, pot, cup, urn, bowl, or a utensil.

Pulu means wet, moist, soaked, saturated. When you got caught in the rain without your umbrella, pulu is the word you should've known. And if you want to soak something, just put the causative prefix hoʻo in front. Since pulu means soaked, then hoʻopulu means “to soak.

Lawelawe means "to serve, work for, minister to, tend, attend to." When you serve dinner, that's what you're doing, lawelawe.

Our Hawaiian word for today is leho for cowry shell. It is a very generic term for the cowry. Leho can be modified by adding other words to make the name specific for each of the many types of cowry, but leho will always work.