hawaiian

IPA/həˈwaɪ.ən/
KK[həwˈaɪən]IPA/həˈwaɪ.ən/

hawaiian — noun

  • hawaiiansingular
  • hawaiiansplural

1. a person whose home is the American state of Hawaii, whether by birth or by long

1.nounB1
Definition

a person whose home is the American state of Hawaii, whether by birth or by long-term residence

Example

The tour guide, a Hawaiian named Bilal, knew every trail on the island.

article + Hawaiian + named [name] (identifying role)

Ayesha met several Hawaiians during her visit to the Big Island last summer.

several + Hawaiians (plural count noun)

Common collocations
  • native Hawaiian
  • ethnic Hawaiian
  • Hawaiian resident

Grammar Patterns

a Hawaiian

the Hawaiians

Usage Note

Some speakers distinguish between a Hawaiian (any resident of the state) and a native Hawaiian (a person of indigenous Polynesian ancestry). Be sensitive to this difference in formal writing.

Common Mistakes

She is a Hawaiian native.
She is a native Hawaiian.
'native Hawaiian' specifically refers to indigenous ancestry; 'Hawaiian native' is non-standard.
A Hawaiian people live next door.
A Hawaiian person lives next door.
'people' is plural; use 'person' for a single individual.

2. the Polynesian language that is native to the Hawaiian Islands and is an officia

2.nounB1
Definition

the Polynesian language that is native to the Hawaiian Islands and is an official language of the state of Hawaii together with English

Example

Jabari listens to Hawaiian music to help him learn the sounds of the language.

learn + Hawaiian (language as object of study)

Karim learned to say 'good morning' in Hawaiian before his trip to Maui.

in Hawaiian (prepositional phrase for language medium)

Common collocations
  • speak Hawaiian
  • written in Hawaiian
  • Hawaiian language
  • learn Hawaiian
  • fluent in Hawaiian
Synonyms
  • ʻŌlelo Hawaiʻi

    the name for the Hawaiian language in Hawaiian itself; used when referring to the language in academic or cultural contexts

Grammar Patterns

speak Hawaiian

in Hawaiian

learn Hawaiian

Usage Note

Hawaiian is a critically endangered language, though revitalization efforts in schools and communities have increased the number of fluent speakers in recent decades.

hawaiian — adjective

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: adjective/1

While 'Hawaiian' specifically refers to the US state of Hawaii and its people, 'Polynesian' covers a much wider region including Samoa, Tonga, and Tahiti — it describes the broader cultural and language family. 'Tropical' is a climate term that overlaps in travel contexts (tropical flowers, tropical fruit) but does not imply a specific geographic origin. 'Island' used as an adjective (island cuisine, island lifestyle) is even more general and can apply to any island community worldwide. For accuracy, use 'Hawaiian' only when the subject is factually connected to Hawaii. For example: 'Polynesian navigation techniques differ from those used in Micronesia' versus 'Hawaiian navigation techniques include the star compass method specific to the islands.'

Polynesian ↗tropical ↗island ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • native Hawaiian
  • Hawaiian music
  • Hawaiian culture

Prepositions

  • from Hawaii
  • in Hawaii

Etymology

Proto-PolynesianHawaiianEnglish

The word 'Hawaiian' comes from the name of the US state 'Hawaii' combined with the English suffix '-an', meaning 'of or relating to'. The name 'Hawaii' itself is an English adaptation of the Hawaiian word 'Hawaiʻi', which is thought to come from the Proto-Polynesian word 'Sawaiki', meaning 'traditional homeland'.