aloha

Borrowed from Hawaiian aloha (“love”), from Proto-Polynesian *qarofa. Doublet of aroha and aropa.

Traveling as the princess regent with a retinue that included Princess Ruth and Queen Kapi‘olani, Lili‘u was welcomed by enormous crowds and lavish outpourings of aloha, as her subjects clasped her knees and kissed her hands and feet to show their reverence.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 91:

(Hawaii) An utterance of aloha (see Interjection, below).


aloha

(chiefly Hawaii) Expressing good wishes when greeting or parting from someone; hello; goodbye.


grind

en-verb

grind (third-person singular simple present grinds, present participle grinding, simple past and past participle ground or grinded)

grinds (present singular third-person)
grinding (participle present)
ground (participle past)
ground (past)
grinded (participle past)
grinded (past)
grind (infinitive)
grind (first-person present singular)
ground (first-person past singular)
grind (present second-person singular)
grindest (archaic present second-person singular)
ground (past second-person singular)
groundst (archaic past second-person singular)
groundest (archaic past second-person singular)
grinds (present singular third-person)
grindeth (archaic present singular third-person)
ground (past singular third-person)
grind (plural present)
ground (past plural)
grind (present subjunctive)
ground (past subjunctive)
grind (imperative present)
grinding (participle present)
ground (participle past)
grounden (archaic participle past)
grind (infinitive)
grind (first-person present singular)
grinded (first-person past singular)
grind (present second-person singular)
grinded (past second-person singular)
grinds (present singular third-person)
grinded (past singular third-person)
grind (plural present)
grinded (past plural)
grind (present subjunctive)
grinded (past subjunctive)
grind (imperative present)
grinding (participle present)
grinded (participle past)

From Middle English grynden, from Old English grindan, from Proto-West Germanic *grindan, from Proto-Germanic *grindaną.
Cognate with Saterland Frisian gríende, griene (“to grind, mill”), Dutch grinden (“to grind”, rare) and grind (“gravel, shingle”), Albanian grind (“to brawl, fight”).

the mill cannot grind with water that is past

Eh, brah, let's go grind.


poke

Borrowed from Hawaiian poke (literally “to cut crosswise into pieces”).

bor

Though I'd often eaten sashimi, poke was then completely new to me—delicious rubies of cubed fish dressed in light sesame oil, garnished with minced bits of reddish-brown seaweed and the ground centers of kukui nuts (see recipe, next page).

2004 October 17, Garrett Hongo, “Poke”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

The fishmonger offered the poke in plastic tubs, without ceremony, just as I had always known it in Honolulu, where I grew up and where some of the best poke is sold at a liquor store, Tamura’s. Then, a few years back, poke started appearing on stray restaurant menus, sometimes identified as Hawaiian crudo or ceviche.

2016 February 4, Ligaya Mishan, “Poke Reaches the Shores of Manhattan”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(Hawaii) Slices or cubes of raw fish or other raw seafood, mixed with sesame oil, seaweed, sea salt, herbs, spices, or other flavorful ingredients.


luna

From Hawaiian luna (“leader; supervisor”).

There are several reasons why the Hawaiian-born Japanese boys and girls do not take kindly to plantation labor, but one of the chief reasons is the objection to the kind of lunas who oversee the work of the laborers.

1922 June, U. G. Murphy, “The Japanese Problem in Hawaii: How the Task of Christianizing and Americanizing the Oriental is Progressing”, in The Friend, volume 91, number 6, page 130:

[…] haoles could not visualize Chinese or Japanese in positions of authority. And from sad experience, the great plantation owners had discovered that the Americans they could get to serve as lunas were positively no good. Capable Americans expected office jobs and incapable ones were unable to control the Oriental […]

1959, James Michener, Hawaii, Fawcett Crest, published 1986, →ISBN, page 737:

After the day was over I went to the luna to count my day but he would not. Then I went to him the second time and he said he would not put it down.

2000, Sally Engle Merry, Colonizing Hawai'i: the cultural power of law, page 321:

Capital punishment was outlawed by the government but some plantation managers and luna still delivered lashings and other forms of abuse.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 35:


bloody

en-adj

bloody (comparative bloodier, superlative bloodiest)

bloodier (comparative)
bloodiest (superlative)
bloudy (alternative obsolete)
bl**dy (alternative)

From Middle English blody, blodi, from Old English blōdiġ, blōdeġ (“bloody”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdag, from Proto-Germanic *blōþagaz (“bloody”), equivalent to blood + -y. Cognate with Dutch bloedig (“bloody”), German blutig (“bloody”), Danish blodig (“bloody”), Swedish blodig (“bloody”), Icelandic blóðugur (“bloody”). See Wikipedia for thoughts on sense evolution.

Traffic in central London was a bloody mess this morning.

There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today.

1916 May 31, David Beatty during the Battle of Jutland

Try to keep those bloody women's bloody heads on their bloody shoulders by somehow helping them make this whole mad impossible scheme actually work.

1994, Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos, page 519:

You are not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog.

2003, Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, page 64:

“You bloody fool, I could′ve stabbed you in the heart,” David said in mock anger, and then smiled widely.

2007, James MacFarlane, Avenge My Kin, Book 2: A Time of Testing, page 498

With 109km of fixed infrastructure, of which only 50% is utilised, Perry's message is simple: "put more bloody trains on it!"

2024 January 24, Dyan Perry talks to Nick Brodrick, “The industry has given me so much”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 45:

(informal, British, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hawaii, mildly vulgar) Used as an intensifier.


ono

ono (comparative more ono, superlative most ono)

more ono (comparative)
most ono (superlative)

Borrowed from Hawaiian ʻono (“delicious”).

(Hawaii, slang) good-tasting, delicious.


ono

Tunas and other pelagic fishes, especially mahimahi and ono (wahoo), are known to congregate under drifting objects, such as logs.

1990, Hawaiian Archipelago and Johnston Island Exclusive Economic Zone, Proposed Marine Mineral Lease Sale: Environmental Impact Statement, volume 1, page 237:

(Hawaii) Synonym of wahoo (“type of fish”).


bugger

From Middle English bougre (“heretic”), from Old French bougre, from Medieval Latin Bulgarus (“Bulgar”), from Old Church Slavonic блъгаринъ (blŭgarinŭ, “Bulgarian”), used in designation of heretics (especially the Bogomils, who arose around the 10th century AD in the First Bulgarian Empire), to whom various sexual practices such as anal sex were ascribed. Doublet of Bulgar.

der

He's a silly bugger for losing his keys.

The bugger’s given me the wrong change.

My computer's being a bit of a bugger.

1928, Frank Parker Day, Rockbound, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0500721h,
“I’ll take it out on dat young bugger,” he thought viciously.

Here the cheers and shouts of the gallery were interrupted by a shabby little man in the back row who yelled out with piercing distinctness: “Don't matter what you call ’im now, George. The bugger’s dead.”

1947, James Hilton, So Well Remembered, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0600371h:

(slang, derogatory, Commonwealth, Hawaii) A foolish or worthless person or thing; a despicable person.

So you're stuck out in the woop-woop and the next train back is Thursday next week. Well, that's a bit of a bugger.

(slang, Commonwealth, Hawaii) A situation that is aggravating or causes dismay; a pain.

How are you, you old bugger?

1946, Olaf Stapledon, Arms Out of Hand, in Collected Stories, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0601341,
Good luck, you old bugger!

1953 February-March, Henry Beam Piper, John Joseph McGuire, Null-ABC, in Astounding Science Fiction, Gutenberg eBook #18346,
“And if Pelton found out that his kids are Literates—Woooo!” Cardon grimaced. “Or what we've been doing to him. I hope I’m not around when that happens. I’m beginning to like the cantankerous old bugger.”

(slang, Commonwealth, Hawaii) Someone viewed with affection; a chap.


Hawaiʻi

If confine your Hawaiʻi vacation to resort areas such as Waikiki, Kaʻanapali, or Kona, you are unlikely to see a native honey-creeper. But birds are always around (even sometimes on your breakfast table!) and a little attention to them will broaden your tropical horizons. In this section we will take you on a bird tour of the Hawaiʻi seen by most visitors, and the only Hawaiʻi known to a surprisingly large number of residents, most of whom, after all, dwell in cities and towns.

1996, H. Douglas Pratt, A Pocket Guide to Hawaiʻi's Birds, Taiwan: Mutual Publishing, →ISBN, page 15:

“With the majority of Hawaiʻi’s COVID-19 cases linked to travel, it is critical that we further mitigate the spread of the virus by both residents and visitors who are coming from out-of-state,” Gov. David Ige said in a statement. “This plan was developed in collaboration with our county mayors and Hawaiʻi’s business, community and visitor industry leaders.”

2020 March 22, David Ige, quotee, “Hawaii to quarantine all arrivals to the state for 14 days”, in AP News, archived from the original on 2020-12-09:

In November, a 14,000-gallon fuel leak at a Navy storage facility contaminated much of the drinking water on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaiʻi, a leak that may cause irreparable damage to the island’s water supplies.

2022 January 13, Andrea Malji, Michael A. Allen, Carla Martinez Machain, “The Navy’s fuel leak in Hawaiʻi outraged local activists. That’s happened around the globe.”, in The Washington Post, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-05-06, Monkey Cage:

With Covid-19 regulations a thing of the past, Hawaiʻi is primed to be a top destination in 2022 thanks to a load of fresh offerings.

2022 July 1, Will McGough, “Planning a dream trip to Hawai'i? What's new on the islands”, in CNN, archived from the original on 2022-07-01, Travel:

In the United States, Hawaiʻi offers tourists some of the country’s best volcano-viewing experiences. In fact, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park encompasses two of the world’s most active volcanoes — Kīlauea and Mauna Loa.

2023 February 22, Grae Gleason, “Tour 6 of Hawaiʻi's volcanoes in this immersive photo gallery”, in USA Today, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-19:

Scalloped hammerhead sharks off the Kona coast of Hawaiʻi Island.[…]
Mark Royer, a shark biologist at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, was inspired to investigate the scalloped hammerhead’s secret heating technique after noticing how deep they were diving during a different research project. He attached a package of sensors near the dorsal fins of six hammerheads near Hawaii.

2023 May 11, Darren Incorvaia, “How Deep-Diving Sharks Stay Warm Will Take Your Breath Away”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-05-11, Trilobites:

(chiefly Hawaii) Alternative spelling of Hawaii: a state of the United States.


lush

en-noun

lush (countable and uncountable, plural lushes)

Perhaps a humorous use of the preceding word, or perhaps from Shelta lush (“food and drink”) (the sense "liquor" is older than the sense "drinker"). The Century Dictionary wrote that it was "said to be so called from one Lushington, a once well-known London brewer", but the Online Etymology Dictionary considers lushington (“drinker”) a humorous extension of lush instead.

Am I humble or am I a lush?

(Hawaii, Pidgin, slang) A person who enjoys talking about themselves.


gaijin

/ˈɡaɪˌd͡ʒɪn/

From Japanese 外人 (gaijin, “foreigner”), from Middle Chinese 外人 (ngwajᴴ nyin). Compare Mandarin 外人 (wàirén), from Old Chinese 外人 (*ŋʷaːds njin, “foreigner, outsider” < “non-relative”), from 外 (wài, “outside, outer”) + 人 (rén, “person”).


kolea

Pluvialis fulva
Pluvialis fulva#Translingual

(Hawaii) A Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva).


poi

It was a far cry from the traditional Hawaiian feast, which always included the beloved poi, a purplish paste made from pounded taro root […].

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 104:

(Hawaii) The traditional staple food of Hawaii, made by baking and pounding the kalo (or taro) root, and reducing it to a thin paste, which is allowed to ferment.


batu

methamphetamine hydrochloride
methamphetamine hydrochloride

(Hawaii, colloquial) The drug methamphetamine hydrochloride, crystal meth.


maka

From Hawaiian maka. Doublet of mata-mata (“police officer”), from Malay mata-mata (“eyes”).

Getting my makas checked so I can actually SEE! Maybe life will be clear with a new set of "eyes".

I felt the warm water, my makas looked into the sky. Thank you for my love of my islands.

He may be weak in his makas, his eyes, but he has been blessed by an excess in his mana'o, his mind.

1989, Newspaper Guild Convention, Proceedings ... Annual Convention, page 177:

da rain an da makas yeh, da eyes, da makas dat luk da mowntans an spak da new hi'way runnin tru da vallee da eyes dat see nottin' but one beeg town ...

2000, Fred Wei-han Ho, Legacy to Liberation, →ISBN:

Open your makas, man!

2007, Victor Rodger, Sons, →ISBN, page 77:


mahalo

From Hawaiian mahalo, from Proto-Eastern Polynesian *masalo.


ohana

ohanas (plural)
ʻohana (alternative)
'ohana (alternative)

Borrowed from Hawaiian ʻohana (“family, kin”).

refn

From the Title Insurance and Trust, and C.C. Pierce Photography Collection, University of Southern California Libraries, Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library, Los Angeles, California, USA.

[U]nder the leadership of Ka Lahui Hawai'i headed by attorney Mililani Trask, various Native Hawaiian organizations, ohanas, and individuals formed a loose coalition that some refer to as the Hawaiian Nation within a Nation.

1989 August 7, Maui Loa, “Testimony on Hawaiian Homestead Hearing, August 7, 1989”, in Administration of Native Hawaiian Home Lands: Joint Hearings before the Select Committee on Indian Affairs, United States Senate, and the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, House of Representatives: One Hundred First Congress, First Session on Oversight Hearing on the Administration of Native Hawaiian Home Lands: August 8, 1989, Lihue, Kauai, Part 2 (S. Hrg.; 101-555, Pr. 2), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 1990, →OCLC, page 644:

The ancient Hawaiian society that began around the sixth century and lasted until around 1000 A.D. was based on the extended family group, the ʻohana, living and working cooperatively on the ahupuaʻa under the leadership of the most respected person in the group, the haku. Most members of the ohana were engaged in agriculture, some in fishing, and some were artisans who probably devoted most of their time to their crafts; undoubtedly others were all three.

1992, Thomas Kemper Hitch, “The Polynesian Economy, Sixth Century to Mid-Nineteenth Century”, in Robert M. Kamins, editor, Islands in Transition: The Past, Present, and Future of Hawaii’s Economy, Honolulu, Hi.: First Hawaiian Bank, →ISBN, page 9:

Perhaps that is why Mr. Family celebrates the Hawaiian concept of ohana—not just family, but extended family. Through the characters of Mr. Family—Kal, Erika (who first appeared in The Third Christmas), Hiialo and their ohana—are purely imaginary, perhaps you can feel in these pages the love I've been fortunate to know.

1996, Margot Early, “Dear Reader”, in Mr. Family (Harlequin Super Romance; 711), Toronto, Ont., New York, N.Y.: Harlequin Books, →ISBN:

In 1981, the Honolulu City Council passed a zoning regulation that borrowed from traditional Hawaiian living arrangements to allow for what is termed ʻohana housing: incorporating relatives into an existing structure or building an "'accessory to the principal permitted single-family dwelling' for extra residents […] In Nānā I Ke Kumu (Look to the Source), a book of Hawaiian customs and beliefs, the ʻohana is described as composed of people connected by ties of love and loyalty, duty and obligation. Members of an ʻohana may or may not be blood kin; they are related by virtue of sharing sustenance and support.

1997, Judith Modell, “(Not) In My Back Yard: Housing the Homeless in Hawaiʻi”, in Jan Rensel, Margaret Rodman, editors, Home in the Islands: Housing and; Social Change in the Pacific, Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, page 201:

So, in Hawaiʻi, banks and retailers now regularly emphasize bowdlerized Hawaiian concepts in their advertising, calling their companies "ohanas" (families), for example, or using images of nineteenth-century aliʻi (chiefs) and sacred symbols […]

1999, Houston Wood, “Disorientation: Unwriteable Knowledge”, in Displacing Natives: The Rhetorical Production of Hawaiʻi, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, →ISBN, part 1 (From Conquest to Anti-Conquest), page 53:

The House and Senate are committing more than $30 million to establish “ohana zones” where the homeless can live, but are leaving it to Gov. David Ige’s administration to figure out the details.

2018 April 28, Kevin Dayton, Nanea Kalani, “More than $30M OK’d for ‘ohana zones’”, in Honolulu Star-Advertiser, archived from the original on 2018-05-01:

(chiefly Hawaii) An extended Hawaiian family unit.


kahuna

Borrowed from Hawaiian kahuna (“shaman, wizard”).

They were kāhuna, practitioners of the old Hawaiian religion, apparently offering themselves as sacrifices to appease the gods so that the queen would be restored.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 230:

(Hawaii) A priest or priestess of the traditional Hawaiian religion.


haole

I had never known any haoles except Elmer and Marks and they were ice cold affairs. Everyone was always glad when their twice-a-month visit was pau. The very island seemed to sigh with relief […]

1946, Armine Von Tempski, Bright Spurs, page 122:

And the white guy who ate Rice-A-Roni with butter was the haole who didn’t speak pidgin or eat real rice.

2009 January 18, Lois-ann Yamanaka, “This Man Is an Island”, in New York Times:

Commerce was flourishing in the kingdom and the rising merchant class was made up largely of haole rather than Hawaiians.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 27:

(Hawaii, somewhat derogatory) A non-Hawaiian, usually specifically a white.


akamai

Borrowed from Hawaiian akamai (“smart”).


slipper

Malay: selipar

(US, Hawaii, India, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore) A flip-flop (type of rubber sandal).


bufo

From translingual Bufo marinus (now Rhinella marina), the cane toad, from Latin būfō (“toad”).


popolo

en-noun

popolo (countable and uncountable, plural popolos)

Borrowed from Hawaiian pōpolo from Proto-Polynesian *polo; cognate with Maori poroporo and pōporo (Solanum aviculare), Tongan polo (“Solanum nigrum”) and Tuvaluan 'opolo (“capsicum”). Skin color meaning comes from analogy to the color of its berries.

The only lack of Kalelealuaka and his comrades was animal food (literally fish) but they supplied its place as well as they could with such herbs as the tender leaves of the popolo, which they cooked like spinach, and with inamona made from the roasted nuts of the kukui tree.

Popolo is a branching green herb with a tendency to being woody at the base. This annual grows one to three feet high on cultivated land and is regarded as a common weed.

1975, L. R. McBride, Practical folk medicine of Hawaii, page 67:

This mite was collected at the Maui Community College agricultural field (Kahului) on popolo berry on 19 July 1995 by C. McGrath.

1998, Hawaiian Entomological Society, Proceedings of the Hawaiian Entomological Society:

He turned and went back at the call of the messenger, taking some popolo fruit and leaves in his cloak.

2011, William D. Westervelt, Hawaiian Legends of Ghosts and Ghost-Gods, →ISBN:

Solanum nigrum
Solanum nigrum#Translingual

(Hawaii) black nightshade (Solanum nigrum).

Well, I'm a Hawaiian, but my father was a black-assed popolo—a Portuguese from Bravas, Cabo Verde Islands, who changed his name.

2004, Miles M. Jackson, Social Process in Hawaii - Volume 43, page 92:

When he gets to third, Fe'ao is excited. He sees Curaçao's thir baseman, Denjerick Virginie, starting at him as he slaps his hands together. "What you looking at, popolo?" he barks.

2007, Charles Euchner, Little League, Big Dreams, →ISBN:

I think that most people in Hawaii agree with my mother-in-law's view of Barry as a good Hawaiian boy; a popolo Hawaiian boy, but a Hawaiian boy nonetheless.

2010, Dave Burgess, A Tale of Two Brothers, →ISBN, page 176:

There was a racial order that existed even in this group of tweens. They teased that Chad and I were popolo, Hawaiian slang for black people. Popolo are shiny berries that grow in clusters in the islands and are so black that they shine purple on branches.

2014, Janet Mock, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More, →ISBN:

(Hawaii, slang, countable, sometimes pejorative) A black person.


shoots

Johannis and Marcella took a yellow cab downtown and asked the driver to stop in front of First National City Bank.
—“Shoots!”—he answered.
Marcella looked at Johannis with question marks in the eyes.
—Ok! It means ok Marcella.

2006, Steen Marcussen, 2000 Carats, page 410:


shoots

The concierge began talking on the phone in the local pidgin. “Eh, anikala Moki, diz Rodney at work, howzit? I get one winnah for you today. Diz guys like go Miloliʻi … no kidding uncle, four poʻe ipukea kane, come now. Shoots.”

2010, David Heaukulani, The Reficul Parallax: Godsquad Genesis, page 112:


da kine

From Hawaiian Pidgin English da (the definite article, from English the) + kine (used as an intensifier, to mean "type of", and many other purposes, from English kind).

da kind (alternative)
da'kine (alternative)
dakine (alternative)

(Hawaii) The kind of thing we're discussing.


balls

That's a load of balls.

(uncountable, UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hawaii, vulgar, colloquial) Synonym of bollocks, nonsense.

Don't make a balls of it!

(UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hawaii, vulgar) A balls-up; a botched job.


Eddie would go

Named after Hawaiian waterman Eddie Aikau (1946–1978).

named-after

Just imagine what it must feel like to make it out of one of those Teahupoo tubes? ¶ *THAT'S* why we continue our quest and challenge. ¶ Eddie would go. ¶ (and we're right behind you Eddie)

2000 April 27, m@rk, “Re: Whats it worth?”, in alt.surfing (Usenet):

We'd bodysurf Pounders, north shore areas, Pupukea... I remember dolphins ( or would that be porpoises?) alongside us in most every wave, which would many times drop us onto the sand with a thud, knocking the wind outa us! Then, like the hardy keiki o ka aina buggahs we were, go right back in for more punishment! Eddie would go, and so, to an extent would us keiki!

2000 August 16, Alkahuna Kekaula Kamauoha, “Re: Screened Lanais/Porches?”, in soc.culture.hawaii (Usenet):

While they debated over the safety of the surfers, big-wave maverick Mark Foo looked out into the maelstrom of waves and whitewater and nonchalantly told one cameraman, “Eddie would go.” The saying stuck, and it eventually became popular in the Islands and in the international board-riding community.

[2002, Stuart Holmes Coleman, Eddie Would Go: The Story of Eddie Aikau, Hawaiian Hero and Pioneer of Big Wave Surfing, New York, NY: St. Martin's Press, →ISBN, page 255:

I guess we could've easily called it a day and left, but when you drive an hour to surf, you gotta go. Eddie would go, right? OK, maybe not in waist-high slop with fifty-degree air and water temps, but, I mean, like, if he were a NH surfer, he would go, wouldn't he?

2002 June 16, Atticus Fisher, “Surf Report: Finding Gems In Shit”, in alt.surfing (Usenet):

(Hawaii, surfing) Said of challenging surfing conditions, often as an encouragement.


hapa

Borrowed from Hawaiian hapa, from English half.

It's what my fiancé and I call ourselves, and how we think of the children we might have: second-generation hapas.
But as the term grows in popularity, so does debate over how it should be used. Some people argue that hapa is a slur and should be retired.

2016 August 8, Akemi Johnson, “Who Gets To Be 'Hapa'?”, in NPR:

(Hawaii, California) A person of mixed ethnic heritage, especially half East or Southeast Asian or Pacific Islander and half white.


lanai

‘If they vomit in the lanai, that's for the butler to handle.’

1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin, published 2010, page 22:

In Honolulu, Nancy Peacock, an architect, said her clients increasingly requested “punees,” as daybeds are known in Hawaii — sometimes on the lanai, the covered porch of the house.

2007 March 11, Tracie Rozhon, “To Have, Hold and Cherish, Until Bedtime”, in New York Times:

Afterward, Lili‘u and Stevenson found time to talk quietly with each other on the bungalow's lānai.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 158:

(chiefly Hawaii, Florida) A Hawaiian-style roofed patio.


haku

(Hawaii) A three-ply braid incorporating additional materials, used in making lei.


pau

From Hawaiian Pidgin English pau, from Hawaiian pau (“done, finished”).

I had never known any haoles except Elmer and Marks and they were ice cold affairs. Everyone was always glad when their twice-a-month visit was pau. The very island seemed to sigh with relief […]

1946, Armine Von Tempski, Bright Spurs, page 122:

When the county truck was pau hauling rubbish for the day, […]

2004, Mike Ashman, Kauaʻi Historical Society, Kauai as it was in the 1940s and '50s:


tombo

From Japanese トンボ (tonbo, “dragonfly”, a nickname for the albacore tuna).

bor

Thunnus alalunga
Thunnus alalunga#Translingual

(Hawaii) Albacore, longfin tuna (Thunnus alalunga)


yobo

From Korean 여보 (yeobo, “darling, sweetheart”).


pakalolo

en-noun

pakalolo (countable and uncountable, plural pakalolos)

From Hawaiian paka (“tobacco”) + lōlō (“numbing”).

(Hawaii) Cannabis marihuana; dagga; ganja; the flowers of the hemp plant, used as smoking material in cigarettes or pipes.


maholla

Maholla, want to hit the beach?


chiefess

Although Lili‘u was born a high chiefess, with lineage that reached back to the high chiefs under Kamehameha the Great, at the time of her birth it would never have seemed possible that she would someday become queen.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 7:

(Hawaii) Synonym of chieftainess, a female chief.


walaʻau

(Hawaii, slang) to chatter, talk incessantly


pilau

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-pilau.wav


Hawaiʻian

en-adj

Hawaiʻian (comparative more Hawaiʻian, superlative most Hawaiʻian)

more Hawaiʻian (comparative)
most Hawaiʻian (superlative)


Hawaiʻian

Today Molokaʻi is often called the Friendly Isle, possibly due to the fact that the largest population of Native Hawaiians live there. Historically, Molokaʻi has been a place for the spiritual leaders of the Hawaiʻian culture to gather.

2007, Jake Goldberg, Joyce Hart, “Geography: The Island State”, in Hawaiʻi (Juvenile Literature), Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 19:


limu

en-noun

limu (countable and uncountable, plural limus)

The menu included chicken, roast pig, raw fish, seaweed, which Hawaiians called limu, roasted kukui nuts, and baked dog […]

(Hawaii) Any of various kinds of edible algae, which form an important part of the traditional Hawaiian diet.


howzit

Contraction of how is it?
In South Africa, possibly a calque of Flemish Dutch hoe is 't?.

(slang, South Africa, Hawaii) Hello; what's up?


hea

Da truck is ova hea.

"She no stay home, I coming right back ova hea, and I goin' fuckin' kill you. So you tink about what you telling me. Cause if I come back, I no kea if you get fuckin' fifty pigs ova hea. I fuckin' kill 'um all." She smiled.

2007 April 1, Chris McKinney, The Tattoo: A Novel, Soho Press, →ISBN:

“Roll back ova hea'an...” No, this nigga didn't. “Nigga? Is that Shiree? Are you for real fuckin' laid up right now?” I yelled into the phone. I ain' even need an answer. The nigga started stutterin' and fumblin' the phone. I hung.

2012 April 24, Ni'chelle Genovese, Baby Momma, Urban Books, →ISBN:

“Well, I likes it too, Peaches,” Mose said, grinning from ear to ear, “but if callin ya Pearl can gits ya ova hea when I calls ya den I's gon be callin ya Pearl. Come on ovah hea, Pearly gal, les see if it woks.

2014 05, Sharlene Tate, Beyond the Shackles of Double Tree, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 120:

(chiefly Hawaii or African-American Vernacular) Here.


kamaʻaina

/ˌkɑməˈaɪnə/

kamaaina (alternative)
kama'aina (alternative)

(Hawaii, slang) Someone who is of Hawaiian origin, but not necessarily of Hawaiian ancestry; a local.


mauka

Borrowed from Hawaiian mauka (“landward, shoreward (from the sea), towards the inland”).


makai

Borrowed from Hawaiian makai (“seaward”).

There are plenty of lots for sale — ranging from $30,000 to $60,000 for an acre that’s mauka (toward the mountain), and $100,000 or much higher for land that’s makai (toward the sea).

2007 April 6, Beth Greenfield, “On the Big Island, a Place for Price-Sensitive Home Shoppers”, in New York Times:


kukui

Though I'd often eaten sashimi, poke was then completely new to me—delicious rubies of cubed fish dressed in light sesame oil, garnished with minced bits of reddish-brown seaweed and the ground centers of kukui nuts (see recipe, next page).

2004 October 17, Garrett Hongo, “Poke”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

“We get so wrapped up in the lei thing,” Ms. Shibata said, noting that instead of that perishable adornment, children will create bracelets of nuts from the kukui, the Hawaiian state tree.

2007 May 18, The New York Times, “Spare Times: For Children”, in New York Times:

Passing through a grove of kukui trees, with their silver-gray leaves, and then through a valley, they would have reached sugarcane fields, their stalks as tall as a man and densely clumped together.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 43:

(Hawaii) Aleurites moluccana, the candlenut tree.


handphone

handphones (plural)
hand phone (alternative)
hand-phone (alternative)

→ Korean: 핸드폰 (haendeupon)

From hand + phone. For the sense of mobile phone, compare with Chinese 手機 /手机 (shǒujī, literally “hand machine”) and Korean 손전화 (sonjeonhwa, literally “hand telephone”).

cog

(Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Brunei, South Korea, Hawaii) A mobile phone.


mo'i

The two armies would draw up close to one another with each mō‘ī usually at the center.

1987, Helen Wong, Ann Rayson, Hawaii's Royal History, page 37:

The king turned to a long-serving Hawaiian adviser and asked him to name the new mō‘ī, but he declined, saying they were all his ali‘i.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 49:


heiau

The basalt was also piled to outline large squares in the ceremonial centres known as heiau'''s.

2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 52:

They'd order lawbreakers put to death in fearsome ritualized killings that took place in a heiau, accompanied by beating drums and chants.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press 2012, page xix:

(Hawaii) A temple in traditional Hawaiian society.


ali'i

From Hawaiian aliʻi, from Proto-Polynesian *qariki.

The chiefs also conscripted the commoners into armies and for countless years, warfare periodically erupted among rival ali‘i, who fought over land, fishing rights, and perceived insults.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page xx:

(Hawaii, now historical) A member of a noble Hawaiian family.


lomilomi

From Hawaiian lomilomi, reduplication of lomi (“to rub with the hand”).

(Hawaii) A traditional form of Hawaiian massage.


lomilomi

en-verb

lomilomi (third-person singular simple present lomilomis, present participle lomilomiing, simple past and past participle lomilomied)

lomilomis (present singular third-person)
lomilomiing (participle present)
lomilomied (participle past)
lomilomied (past)

During a church service at Kawaiaha‘o, she once walked to the rear of the church, lay on her back, and called a native Hawaiian boy of about eight years old over to her, commanding him to lomilomi her abdomen with his feet.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 99:


hanai

The practice of hānai was abhorrent to the New England missionaries, who discouraged it.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press 2012, page 8:

(Hawaii) The practice of traditional Hawaiian adoption of one child into another family.


hanai

This is Kimo, my hanai brother.

(Hawaii) Adopted in the traditional Hawaiian way, made a complete part of the family.


Molokaʻi

(Hawaii) Alternative spelling of Molokai.


Niʻihau

(chiefly Hawaii) Alternative spelling of Niihau.


buddhahead

(dated, derogatory, Hawaii) A Japanese-Hawaiian person.


manini

en-adj

manini (comparative more manini, superlative most manini)

more manini (comparative)
most manini (superlative)


kapakahi

kapakahi (comparative more kapakahi, superlative most kapakahi)

more kapakahi (comparative)
most kapakahi (superlative)


kajiki

(Hawaii) Blue marlin (Makaira nigricans)


kahili

A dozen or more of these gaudy kahilis were upheld by pallbearers.

Mourners carried a hundred or more kāhili, some highly unusual or old or with special names, such as the malulani (shade of the heavens), a handsome large kāhili of black ostrich feathers.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 118:

(Hawaii) A feather standard mounted on a pole, as traditionally used in Hawaii on ceremonial occasions.


akule

Residents of the island also told of a school of red akule fish that had been spotted in the waters off the island of Hawai‘i, which traditionally foretold the death of an ali‘i.

2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 122:

(Hawaii) The bigeye scad, Selar crumenophthalmus.


holoku

From Hawaiian holokū, usually explained as some sense of holo (“go”) and kū (“stop”).

(Hawaii) Synonym of Mother Hubbard: a kind of loose dress introduced to Hawaii by Christian missionaries.


okole

To relieve the pain, I was given daily shots of morphine and since I didn't have an okole any more, I had to take all the shots in my arms.

2002, Louis Baldovi, A Foxhole View: Personal Accounts of Hawaii's Korean War Veterans:

She said he had too cute an okole to park it in a wheel chair where no wahine would ever get to see it again.

Two pillows behind her back propped her up while another beneath her shielded her okole from the sprung springs of the old couch. Positioned thus, Lehua suckled her newborn son.

2012, Michael Herr, The Old Queen and the Maui Maiden, page 13:


mahu

(Hawaii) A person of the third gender, having traditional spiritual and social roles in the cultures of Hawaii and Tahiti.

(Hawaii, slang, derogatory) A gay person; homosexual.


haole time

White People's time
White People's time#English

(Hawaii) Synonym of White People's time.


hammajang

I can't think straight, my thoughts are all hammajang, but I say, "When is his funeral? […]

1988, Hawaii Review, numbers 23-24, page 72:

I peeked through the fence and almost died right there on the dirt. Tunazilla was sitting under a mango tree strumming an 'ukulele and singing with a voice like heaven itself. Next to her was a hammajang teddy bear, half the fuzz gone and missing one eye. I stood there, jaw on the ground, unable to believe those sounds, [...]

2019, Lehua Parker, One Boy, No Water, Makena Press, →ISBN:

(Hawaii) In a state of confusion or disorder.


bibidees

“I like buy bibidees,” he asked his mother one day.

2010, Jack Matsuda, Beep, Beep, Akule!, page 76:

(US, slang, Hawaii) Men's or boys' briefs.


braddah

From Hawaiian Creole braddah, itself from English brother.


jan ken po

From Hawaiian Creole jan ken po, from Japanese じゃんけんぽん (jankenpon), from じゃんけん (janken).


long rice

Perhaps because the process of making these noodles involves extruding the starch through a potato ricer.


menpachi

menpachis (plural)
menpachi (plural)
mempachi (alternative)

Borrowed from Japanese めんぱち (menpachi), a dialectal word for the めだか (medaka).


uluhe

(Hawaii) The fern Dicranopteris linearis.


awapuhi

Borrowed from Hawaiian ʻawapuhi, from Proto-Polynesian *kava-pui from Proto-Polynesian *kawa; doublet of kava and kawakawa via Tongan and Māori respectively.

Zingiber zerumbet
Zingiber zerumbet#Translingual

(Hawaii) Zingiber zerumbet, a plant in the ginger family.


mountain apple

Fresh breezes sweep down the mountains, laden with the perfumes of the orange, the banana, pine-apple, and mountain apple trees […]

1861, chapter XXV, in Ira Jones, Life and Adventure in the South Pacific, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 324:

The mountain apple is very refreshing to eat because of the large amount of water present and the delicate flavor. It is most frequently eaten out of hand, but may be cut up and used in salads and cocktails.

1936 January 10, Casey D. Miller, Katherine Bazore, Ruth C. Robbins, Some Fruits of Hawaii: Their Composition, Nutritive Value and Use (Hawaii Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletins; 77), University of Hawaii, United States Department of Agriculture, page 55:

Mountain apple, or ʻōhi'a ʻai, was one of the twenty-four “canoe plants” brought to Hawaiʻi by Polynesian voyagers over 1,500 years ago.

2014, Derek Kurisu, “Honoring the Family of KTA Super Stores”, in Aiko Yamashiro, Noelani Goodyear-Kaʻōpua, editors, The Value of Hawaiʻi 2: Ancestral Roots, Oceanic Visions, Biographical Research Center, →ISBN, page 78:

Syzygium malaccense
Syzygium malaccense#Translingual

(especially Hawaii) The Malay apple or pommerac (Syzygium malaccense).


painiu

(Hawaii) A local common name for Astelia waialealae.


auhuhu

(Hawaii) The flowering plant Tephrosia purpurea.


hapa haole

(Hawaii) A person whose ancestry is part Hawaiian and part white European.


onaga

From Japanese 尾長 (onaga) or 尾長鯛 (onagadai).

(Hawaii) Longtail snapper (Etelis coruscans), a species of ray-finned fish.


tombo ahi

From Japanese トンボ (tonbo, “dragonfly”, a nickname for the albacore tuna; its long pectoral fins are likened to the wings of a dragonfly) + ahi, from Hawaiian ʻahi (“yellowfin tuna”).

der

(Hawaii) Albacore, longfin tuna (Thunnus alalunga)


monchong

(Hawaii) Sickle pomfret (Taractichthys steindachneri)

(Kōchi) エチオピア (echiopia, literally “Ethiopia”)

(Kantō) テツビン (鉄瓶, tetsubin, literally “cast iron kettle”)

(Hawaii) Brilliant pomfret (also called lustrous pomfret, Eumegistus illustris)