iiwi

Or 'i·'i·wi

[ee-ee-wee]

noun

1. a Hawaiian honeycreeper, Vestiaria coccinea, having a red body, black wings, and a deeply curved pinkish-red bill.

Word History and Origins

Origin of iiwi¹

First recorded 1885–90; from Hawaiian ʿiʿiwi, derivative of ʿiwi “reddish;” compare earlier eeeeve (1779)

Example Sentences

They include iiwi and elepaio birds, a tree snail called pupu kani oe and the Hawaiian hoary bat, also known as opeapea.

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Maile Asuncion, 9, drew a red iiwi, also known as a scarlet honeycreeper.

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The biologists also found that the iiwi bird, which lives at high elevations, is most susceptible to the changes.

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The forest they were in was a quilt, he explained, stitched together by honeycreepers like the apapane and iiwi as they drank nectar and scattered seeds.

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On the third side of the square the indigenous element was represented by pleasant, brown-faced young men in blue uniforms of modern cut, over which they wore brilliant red and yellow tippets of priceless "Oo" and "Iiwi" feathers, handed down from days gone by, when they were insignia of Hawaiian royalty.

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