Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. nvt., To hit, strike, throw, smite, hack, thrust, toss, fling, hurl, dash, especially with a quick hard stroke; to bail water, as from a canoe; to clean, as weeds or mud from a pond; to fling the arms or swing them while walking; to make net meshes; to tie, as thatch battens; to knit; to fish with a pole; to turn the soil; to turn a rope for children to jump; to remove, as a cataract from the eye with the edge of a blade of kūkae puaʻa grass; to snare, as birds; to curse (especially if used with ʻino; cf. kāmalū); to murder; murderous; murderer, dead shot.

• Examples:
  • Kā i ka hoe, to pull on a paddle with all one's strength.
  • Kā make loa, to dash to death, hurl down, as a foe in lua fighting; to doom to death.
  • Kā i ka nele loa, to take away everything, utterly deprive, to be without.
  • Limu kā kanaka o Manuʻakepa, the man-striking moss of Manuʻakepa [name of a famous slippery alga growing on the beach at Hanalei, Kauaʻi].
  • Kā makau, to make a fishhook of bone or other material.
  • Kā kēhau, to rub tape on grass or shrubbery to absorb the dew as a means of gathering moisture in arid places such as Kaʻu.
  • Kā koʻi, to make adzes.
  • I ke kā ʻana (For. 5:650), in tying [thatch].
• Related:
  • Kā i ka ʻino, to curse, do evil to.
  • Kā liliko, to burn, sear.
  • For kā i ka waha, see waha.
  • hoʻokā Caus/sim.; To dash down, shatter, break, strike.
• References:
  • PPN taa.

2. nvt., Canoe bailer; to bail.

• References:
  • PPN taa.

3. n., Beater, knee-drum beater made of dried ti leaves or braided fiber.

4. n., Cross-stitching.

5. n.v., Vine, as of sweet potato; to send out a vine, to vine, to grow into a vine.

• Examples:
  • Ua kā nā ʻuala a kākou, our sweet potatoes have grown into vines.
• References:
  • Cf. hīkākā, kāhihi.

6. nvi., Root cutting, as of breadfruit; to send forth shoots.

7. n., Pelvic bone.

• Examples:
  • He kā manu (For. 4:287), thigh of a bird [perhaps a mistranslation; ʻūhā manu in the preceding line is mistranslated leg of a bird].

8. n., Incoming, of a current (au).

9. n., Container, hanger.

• References:
  • Cf. kā ipu, kā paka, kā ʻumeke.

10. interjection, of mild disapproval, annoyance, or surprise. Oh! So! Goodness! So that's it! Is that so! (If spoken alone it is frequently pronounced Chā! or Sah!)

• Examples:
  • ʻO ʻoe kā! So it's you!
  • ʻOia kā! Is that it!
  • Eia aʻe nō kā! Still here!
  • ʻO kā mākou kā kāu mea i manaʻo ai (For. 4.297), so ours is what you wanted.
• References:
  • Gram. 12.

11. possessive, Of, belonging to (a-class, Gram. 9.6), as in the possessives kā kākou, our (inclusive), kā mākou, our (exclusive); kā ka haumana puke, the student's book.

• References:
  • PNP taʻa.

12. n., Czar.

• Source:
  • English.

13. n., Tar, asphalt.

• Source:
  • English.
• Related:
  • Also: tā.

1. Inclusiveness, in the first person dual and plural pronouns kāua, kākou.

• References:
  • PPN ta, PNP taa.

2. Non-productive caus/sim. prefix similar to hoʻo-.

• References:
  • Cf. kāhea, kāhili, kāhinu, kākoʻo, kāmaʻa, kāwili, and many others, and Gram. 6.3.1.
  • PPN ta(a)-.

1. Definite singular article replaced by ke before words beginning with a, e, o, and k, and before some words beginning with the glottal stop and p (ka ʻaka, the laugh, ke ʻala, the fragrance; ka pā, the yard, ke pā, the dish). In documents in the State Archives dating from the 1850s, ke was used also before words beginning with other letters. Ka is sometimes used before nouns that are obviously plural and instead of possessives (see ex., mae). Ka is usually translated ‘the’ except that it is not translated before English mass nouns and status titles, as ka hanohano, glory, and ke Akua, God.

• References:
  • Gram. 10.2.
  • PNP te .

2. The one who, the person in question (usually followed by i, completed aspect, and a verb, a shortening of ka mea: Gram. 10.2; see ke #2).