Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. n., Sugar cane (Saccharum officinarum 🌐), a large unbranched grass brought to Hawaiʻi by early Polynesians as a source of sugar and fiber. The thick stems are full of sweet juicy pulp. In time, many different kinds of cane were produced, with many different attributes and names. Cane yields one of the most valuable plant products known. For commercial purposes the yield has been increased by hybridizing with such success that the sugar industry was for many years the largest industry in Hawaiʻi.

• Examples:
  • He ʻoi kēlā ʻo ke kanaka huhū … ʻaʻohe pū kō momona iāia (For. 5:209), he's a very angry man … no clump of sugar cane will sweeten him up [i.e., you can't mollify his anger].
  • Kō ʻeli lima a ʻo Hālāliʻi, hand-dug sugar cane of Hālāliʻi [famous in songs descriptive of Niʻihau; its stalks grew in sand with only the leaves protruding].
• References:
  • Neal 77–9.
  • For. 5:582–9 lists types of kō, all are listed in the Dictionary except kō malolo (also known as kō puhala and kō ʻailolo).
  • Cf. kea #3.
  • PPN toro , possibly PEP toa , PCP too .

2. nvi., Dragged, towed, wind-borne; long, as a vowel sound; to drag, push, prolong, tow, drawl; to hold a note for several beats in singing or chanting; pull, tug, massage.

• Examples:
  • Kō mai ana ke ʻala o ka pua o ka pīkake, the fragrance of the jasmine flower is wind-borne.
  • I aloha i ke kō a ka wai, i ka ʻī mai “Anu kāua” (chant), beloved is the [current] pulling in the stream, saying “we are refreshed.”
• References:
  • Cf. kani kō, lawaiʻa kō lau.
  • PPN toho .

3. vi., To fulfill, come to pass, succeed, do, complete, foreclose; to win in dispute; to become pregnant; fulfilled.

• Examples:
  • Kō ʻole ʻia, not done, accomplished; unsuccessful.
  • Ua kō kaʻu hoʻopiʻi ma ke kānāwai, I won the lawsuit.
• Related:
  • hoʻokō Caus/sim.; Executive; to fulfill; to carry out, as a contract; to enforce, execute, confirm, construe, interpret, decree; to award, as land; to probate, perform, satisfy; to transact, accomplish; to cause a conception; confirmation, award.
    • Luna hoʻokō, executive officer.
    • Luna hoʻokō kauoha, executor.
    • Hoʻokō ʻana, performance, accomplishment, achievement, carrying out.
    • Hoʻokō kānāwai, to enforce the law.
    • Hoʻokō hana mamua o ka leʻaleʻa, duty before pleasure.
    • Ka puke o ka pule ʻana a me ka ho ʻokō ʻana, the book of prayers and the administration [of the sacrament].
• References:
  • PPN too .

4. vt., To break up lumps in poi by pressing against the side of a container.

5. n., Second note in musical scale, re.

6. n. and interjection, A call to pigs, fowl.

• Related:
  • Also kolo, kolo, kolo.

7. preposition, Of (o-rm possessive; Gram. 8.4.1).

• Examples:
  • Kō kākou, our (plural, inclusive).
  • Kō ʻAna hale, Anna's house.
  • Kō ia, of him, his, hers, its; belonging to him or her.
  • Kō laila, of that place; belonging to that place, local.
  • Kō ʻoneʻi mokomoko nui (For. 5:411), the big fighter of this place.
  • Kō ka ʻuhane, spiritual things.
• Related:
  • Note idiomatic use with ā, as far as, plus a direction word: kō ā uka, those of the uplands; kō ā mua, those in the foreground; kō ā hope, those behind.
• PNP toʻo .

8. possessive. Your (of one person; singular possessed object; replacing both kāu and kou, often with affectionate connotation; see Gram. 8.4.1).

• References:
  • PCP too .