Hawaiian

American  

[huh-wahy-uhn, -wah-yuhn] / həˈwaɪ ən, -ˈwɑ jən /

adjective

1. of or relating to Hawaii or the Hawaiian Islands.

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noun

• Hawaiians
  plural

1. a native or inhabitant of Hawaii or the Hawaiian Islands.

2. the aboriginal language of Hawaii, a Polynesian language.

Hawaiian British  

/ həˈwaɪən /

adjective

1. of or relating to Hawaii, its people, or their language

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noun

1. a native or inhabitant of Hawaii, esp one descended from Melanesian or Tahitian immigrants

2. a language of Hawaii belonging to the Malayo-Polynesian family

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Hawaiians
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Hawaiian

First recorded in 1815–25; Hawaii + -an

Compare meaning

How does hawaiian compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• Polynesian vs. Hawaiian

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Hawaiian Hawaiians

Reed was meeting that day with three executives from a Hawaiian defense contractor, Navatek.

From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026

Further east, in the island of Oahu which is home to the capital Honolulu, there were more than 20,000 customers without power, according to Hawaiian Electric.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

Historically, Asian American women, with the exception of Native Hawaiian women, have had lower breast cancer rates than non-Hispanic white women.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

Hawaiian, United and Southwest offered travel waivers allowing customers to change affected flights at no extra cost.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026

His bright Hawaiian shirt mocks the somberness of the day.

From "Challenger Deep" by Neal Shusterman

The lack of stigma among the Hawaiians, we learn, is cause for colonial concern: Father Damien’s death becomes a local scandal, and provokes a moral panic among the American businessmen who had bought Hawaiian land.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

"They underscore why it is so important to move beyond treating Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders as a single population."

From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026

He then urged his fellow Hawaiians to check in on their local communities and do what they can to support their neighbors.

From MarketWatch ● Mar. 30, 2026

Films or series about Native Hawaiians and their history have been few and far between, but this new historical drama aims to rectify that.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025

Instead of standard English, everyone spoke Hawaiian Pidgin, a language mash-up created by Hawaiians and early Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, and American immigrants.

From "Boots on the Ground: America's War in Vietnam" by Elizabeth Partridge