hapa

American  

[hah-puh] / ˈhɑ pə /

noun

1. (especially in Hawaii and California) a person of mixed-race heritage who identifies racially and culturally as both white and of Asian descent.

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Etymology

Origin of hapa

First recorded in 1985–90; from Hawaiian Pidgin: “half”

Example Sentences

However, over the course of the 20th century, hapa subjects transformed the meaning of the word from one with derogatory connotations to one charged with affirmative associations.

From Salon • Jan. 2, 2023

There’s no character development to speak of, though the two nice sisters going gaga over the handsome hapa detective each make you root for them.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 10, 2021

Tiller is Lee’s modern American Everyman: 20 years old, one-eighth Asian, and referred to, depending on where he is in the world, as hapa, haole and farang — mixed, nonnative, white.

From New York Times • Feb. 5, 2021

It stars an Asian American lead and features a biracial family with a white dad, a mother of Korean heritage, and hapa siblings.

From Slate • Aug. 15, 2018

A ma kekahi po ae, i ka mahina e konane oluolu ana, i ka wa hapa o ka lai.

From The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai by Beckwith, Martha Warren