kahuna
[kuh-hoo-nuh]
- (in Hawaii) a native medicine man or priest.
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Origin of kahuna
Borrowed into English from Hawaiian around 1885–90
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for kahuna
Historical Examples
The death of Kohaokalani is attributed chiefly to the Kahuna.
Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich IslandsCharles Nordhoff
Pakaa was one of the favorites of Umi, and Lono was his kahuna.
Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich IslandsCharles Nordhoff
The kahuna lapaau (medical priest) then said, “Open your mouth.”
Hawaiian Folk TalesVarious
Like the incantation of the sorcerer, the kahuna naan, it meant death to the eulogized one.
Unwritten Literature of HawaiiNathaniel Bright Emerson
When a Kanaka has endured an injury he hires a kahuna to pray his enemy to death.
Myths & Legends of our New Possessions & ProtectorateCharles M. Skinner
Word Origin and History for kahuna
n.
1886, in a report in English by the Hawaiian government, which defines the word as "doctor and sorcerer," from Hawaiian, where it was applied as well to priests and navigators. In surfer slang, for "a god of surfing," it is attested from 1962 (but big kahuna in same sense is said to date from 1950s.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper