kanaka
noun
a Native Hawaiian.
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kanaka
American
[kuh-nak-uh, -nah-kuh, kan-uh-kuh]
/ kəˈnæk ə, -ˈnɑ kə, ˈkæn ə kə /
noun
(sometimes initial capital letter)
-
a Native Hawaiian.
-
a South Sea islander.
Kanaka
British
/ kəˈnækə, ˈkænəkə /
noun
-
(esp in Hawaii) a native Hawaiian
-
(often not capital) any native of the South Pacific islands, esp (formerly) one abducted to work in Australia
Etymology
Origin of kanaka
From Hawaiian: “person”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The kanaka of Hawaii, the Native Hawaiians who inhabit the islands, value ’ohana, which extends beyond the familial ties of blood.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 26, 2023
There has been no wholesale return of Hawaiian crown lands to the kanaka maoli, only promises and fitful attempts at restitution amid generations of wistful nostalgia and frustration.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 16, 2022
And somehow, kanaka maoli always seem to bear the brunt.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2022
Over the following centuries, the Native Hawaiians, or kanaka maoli, developed a complex, regenerative and self-sufficient agricultural system in their new home, and the moa proliferated.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 8, 2022
Thus, in signing a paper the signature would be Hoapili kanaka, or Hoapili wahine, according as the signer was man or woman.
From The Hawaiian Archipelago by Isabella L. (Isabella Lucy) Bird
Kanaka elders have insisted that no more telescopes be built on Mauna Kea, which Native Hawaiians consider to be ancestral and sacred.
From Salon ● Aug. 21, 2024
Patrick Michell, chief of the Kanaka Bar First Nation, first began noticing worrying changes in the forest near his reserve in British Columbia, Canada, more than three decades ago.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2021
“Hopefully that’ll help keep some of these fires down,” he said, noting that another blaze ignited about a quarter-mile from the one in the Kanaka Valley on Friday morning, but it was already contained.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2021
A wooden footbridge crosses Kanaka Creek, where the trail leads to picnic areas with peaceful water views.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 13, 2018
Three or four were apparently Englishmen, the others black or brown men, one a Kanaka, the other a New Zealander.
From The Three Commanders by Thomas Cantrell Dugdale
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
