kanaka
Americannoun
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a Native Hawaiian.
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a South Sea islander.
noun
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(esp in Hawaii) a native Hawaiian
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(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.
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
It’s an unsustainable arrangement that has displaced many of our people: Half the global kanaka population now live outside Hawaiʻi.
From Washington Post • Jun. 8, 2022
Honestly, we kanaka don’t mind the moa so much.
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
I aku la kahi kanaka, "Aia a puka lea aku kaua iwaho o ka mahinaai nei la, alaila, ike maopopo leaia aku ka hale."
From The Hawaiian Romance Of Laieikawai by Beckwith, Martha Warren
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.
