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If you barbecue a lot, you probably already know today's word of the day. Pūlehu means to broil. Although it most correctly means broiling as you would sweet potatoes, breadfruit or bananas placed on hot embers. We often used pūlehu to describe meat that has been broiled.
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Pua is a very well known and often used Hawaiian word. In common usage it means: flower, blossom, even the tassel and stem of sugar cane. It means to bloom, and among its many other meanings is child, descendant, offspring.
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Akua has many meanings, but none more common in today's Hawaiian than "god." In Hawaiian, there are many different kinds of gods, and akua can mean goddess, spirit, ghost, devil, image, idol, divine, even a corpse.
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Leo means voice, tone, tune, melody, sound, command, and more. It is most often used today to mean voice and is heard often in describing singers, such as the leo nahenahe, or as the name of the private pre-school Punanaleo, “the voice nest.”
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Whether you are talking about the place on Maui or a shawl that is draped over your shoulders, it is pronounced Kīhei with a stress on the first vowel. It means a shawl or cape, and is a well-known destination on the Valley Isle.
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Our Hawaiian Word of the Day is a place name, Hālawa. It is a well known place on Hawaiʻi, Molokaʻi and on Oʻahu.
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Hoʻomau means to continue, keep on, persist, renew, perpetuate, persevere, and last. Be sure to pronounce those glottal stops between the “o,” which is called an ʻokina in Hawaiian.
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Today's Hawaiian Word of the Day is kāmaʻa for shoe, sandal, slipper, boot, ti leaf or tapa sandal, shoes.
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Keiki is a very well known and often used term for child. It means offspring, child, youngster. But it is also used for animals, such as a colt, kid, cub, or even the young of a taro or banana plant. Say keiki, as in keiki o ka ʻāina – a child of the land.
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Mokuʻāina means state, as in the United States.
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Our Hawaiian Word of the Day is mokupuni. It means island, from the word moku which means “cut or severed,” and puni which means “surrounded.” So it's a piece of land cut off and surrounded by water. It is commonly used even in English conversation.
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We told you about ʻelemakule, which means old man, and today's Hawaiian Word of the Day is luahine, or old woman. It can also mean old lady. Both are proper terms, and it is perfectly all right to describe our older friends as ʻelemakule and luahine.
