Education | The Hawaiian Islands

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Language Audio Dictionary

With such an amazing culture to experience, why not learn more about the language as well?

Here in the Language Audio Dictionary, you can test yourself with common phrases, mispronounced words and island names.


Ā hui hou

Meaning: Until we meet again; used for "goodbye"

ahupuaʻa

Meaning: Land division, extending from the mountain to the sea, often times pie-shaped; resources managed within this land division

ʻāina

Meaning: Land, earth; especially Hawaiian ancestral land

akamai

Meaning: Smart, clever, intelligent

aliʻi

Meaning: Hawaiian royalty; chief; royal or chiefly class

Aloha

Meaning:  Hello, goodbye, love; extension of welcome and friendship

Aloha ahiahi

Meaning: Good Evening

Aloha ʻauinalā

Meaning: Good Afternoon

Aloha kakahiaka

Meaning: Good Morning

E komo mai

Meaning: Welcome! Enter

hale

Meaning: House; building

Haleakalā

Meaning: House of the sun; extinct volcano of east Maui, also a National Park

Haleʻiwa

Meaning: House of the frigate bird; town and beach on Oʻahu

Hana hou

Meaning: Encore, do it again

Hanauma Bay

Meaning: Curved bay or hand-wresting bay; Marine life conservation area on the southeast of Oʻahu

hapa

Meaning: Half, portion; a reference to those of mixed ancestry

Hawaiʻi

Meaning: Largest Hawaiian Island; later the name of the unified islands under the rule of Kamehameha the Great originally from this island

Hauʻoli

Meaning: Happy, glad, joy

Hauʻoli Lā Hānau

Meaning: Happy Birthday

Hauʻoli Makahiki Hou

Meaning: Happy New Year

heiau

Meaning: Pre-Christian place of worship, still considered sacred to this day

holoholo

Meaning: To travel around for enjoyment; also used as a reference for fishing – it was superstition to say you were going “holoholo” instead of fishing so as to not alert the fish

Honoapiʻilani Highway

Meaning: Bays of Piʻilani; 14th century high chief of Maui

Honolulu

Meaning: Protected bay; capitol city of the State of Hawaiʻi

honu

Meaning: Sea turtle

hoʻokipa

Meaning: Hospitality

huki

Meaning: Pull

hula

Meaning: The dance of Hawaiʻi; hula kahiko, traditional hula; hula ‘auana, contemporary hula

huli

Meaning: Turn

humuhumunukunukuā

Meaning: Humuhumu (triggerfish) with a snout like a pig; the State fish; a type of triggerfish

imu

Meaning: Underground oven

(Queen) Kaʻahumanu

Meaning: Feather cloak; favorite wife of King Kamehameha I and first regent upon her husband’s death. She influenced the abolishment of the kapu and aided in the introduction of Christianity in the Islands

Kāʻanapali

Meaning: Kāʻana cliff; beach and resort area on Maui

kālā

Meaning: Money, dollar

Kahoʻolawe

Meaning: The taking or carrying away (by the currents); smallest of the eight major Hawaiian Islands. Used for target practice by the US Armed Forces until the early 1990s, the island is part of Maui County

kahu

Meaning: Guardian, caretaker

Kahului

Meaning: The winning; name of the airport on Maui (OGG)

kahuna

Meaning: Priest; priestly class

kai

Meaning: Sea, salt water

(King) Kalākaua

Meaning: The day of battle; David Kalākaua, King of Hawaiʻi from 1874 to 1891. Refers to the avenue in Waikīkī and a park in Hilo

(Prince) Kalanianaʻo

Meaning: The royal chief without measure; Prince Jonah Kūhiō Kalanianaʻole, nephew of Queen Kapiʻolani and heir to the Hawaiian throne. Highway on Oʻahu

kālua pig

Meaning: Pork cooked in an imu (underground oven)

kamaʻāina

Meaning: Child of the land; native-born; acquainted, familiar; commonly refers to a long-time resident of Hawai`i

(King) Kamehameha

Meaning: The lonely one; unifier of the Hawaiian Islands; Highway on Oʻahu and avenue in Hilo

kanaka

Meaning: Person; Hawaiian person

kāne

Meaning: Male; man; husband, men

Kapaʻa

Meaning: The solid or the closing; land division on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi

Kapalua

Meaning: Two borders; beach and resort area in Honolua, Maui

Kapiʻolani

Meaning: The arch of heaven (arch referring to a rainbow, significant in the rank of ali‘i); Chiefess Kapiʻolani defied the goddess of fire in the name of Christianity in 1824, namesake of Queen Kapiʻolani

kapu

Meaning: Sacred, taboo, forbidden; no trespassing; base of ancient Hawaiian religion

Kauaʻi

Meaning: Fourth largest Hawaiian island

Kealakekua

Meaning: Pathway of the god; land section on southern Hawaiʻi. Site where Captain James Cook died

Keauhou

Meaning: The new era; land section on the island of Hawaiʻi

keiki

Meaning: Child, offspring

Kīhei

Meaning: Cape, cloak; land section, beach and resort area on South Maui

kōkua

Meaning: Help; assistance

kuleana

Meaning: Responsibility;privilege; ownership

kupuna/kūpuna

Meaning: Grandparent, elder; ancestor/grandparents, elders;ancestors

lānai

Meaning: Porch, patio, or balcony

Lānaʻi

Meaning: Day of conquest; sixth largest Hawaiian island, falls under the jurisdiction of Maui County

lei

Meaning: Flowers, leaves, shells or feathers that are strung and/or entwined and given as a symbol of affection; not gender specific as is the belief

Līhuʻe

Meaning: Cold chill; capitol of Kauaʻi, name of airport (LIH)

(Princess) Likelike

Meaning: adj. Resembling something; Younger sister of King Kalākaua and Queen Liliʻuokalani. Highway on Oʻahu

lūʻau

Meaning: Hawaiian feast; edible young leaves of the taro plant; often to celebrate a 1-year birth, wedding, graduation, etc

ma kai

Meaning: Directional reference, toward the sea

ma uka

Meaning: Directional reference, toward the mountain, Inland

mahalo

Meaning: Thanks, gratitude; respect

Mahalo nui loa

Meaning: Thank you very much

malihini

Meaning: A newcomer, visitor; new, unfamiliar, of foreign origin

Maui

Meaning: Second largest Hawaiian island, named in honor of the demigod, Māui

mele

Meaning: Chant or melodic song for hula dancing; poem, poetry

Mele Kalikimaka

Meaning: Merry Christmas

Molokaʻi

Meaning: Fifth largest Hawaiian Island

muʻumuʻu

Meaning: Long, loose dress; mother hubbard style dress; missionary influenced

Niʻhau

Meaning: Seventh largest Hawaiian island, privately owned and not opened to tourism

Oʻahu

Meaning: Third largest Hawaiian island

ʻohana

Meaning: Family, extended family, kin group, relative, close friends

ʻono

Meaning: Delicious, to crave

pali

Meaning: Cliff

paniolo

Meaning: Cowboy

pau

Meaning: Finished, ended, all done

poi

Meaning: The Hawaiian staple food; made from steamed, pounded taro

Poʻipū

Meaning:  Completely overcast or crashing (as in waves); land section and resort area in South Kauaʻi

poke

Meaning: To cube; a Hawaiian dish commonly made of raw cubed fish and seasonings; eaten as an appetizer

pūpū

Meaning: Snacks, Appertizers, Hors d'oeuvres 

wahine/wāhine

Meaning: Woman/Women, wife

Waikoloa

Meaning: Duck water; land section and resort area on the island of Hawaiʻi 

Waimea

Meaning: Reddish water; land section Kauai, Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi 

wikiwiki

Meaning: Fast or speedy; name of the shuttle at Honolulu International Airport