Word.ws English Dictionary

awa

awa noun: kava, specifically Piper methysticum.

Noun

awa (uncountable)

  1. Kava, specifically Piper methysticum.
    • The manner of preparing awa is peculiarly disgusting. The root is chewed by women, and the spit out well-chewed mouthfuls into a calabash.1874, Charles Nordhoff, Northern California, Oregon, and the Sandwich Islands, New York: Harper & Brothers, page 92
    • The awa plant is a species of pepper, the piper methysticum of the botanist, and is described as having fleshy stems from two to three feet high.1900, Oliver P. Emerson, “The Awa Habit of the Hawaiians”, in All about Hawaii: The Recognized Book of Authentic Information on Hawaii, Combined with Thrum's Hawaiian Annual and Standard Guide...
  2. An intoxicating drink made from the kava plant, typically the root.
    • The Hawaiian gods were supposed to be particularly addicted to the use of awa. Songs were sung in praise of the drink.1900, Oliver P. Emerson, “The Awa Habit of the Hawaiians”, in All about Hawaii: The Recognized Book of Authentic Information on Hawaii, Combined with Thrum's Hawaiian Annual and Standard Guide...
    • When the prayer had finished, the awa was drunk and the sacred feast then began.1910, S. M. Kanakau, “Ancient Hawaiian Religious Beliefs and Ceremonies”, in Thros. G. Thrum, editor, The Hawaiian Annual for 1911, Honolulu: Thros. G. Thrum, page 150

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Awa

Awa

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of Ava (“Burmese city”).

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Awa

Awa

  1. A city in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan.
  2. a Kainantu language spoken in Papua New Guinea.

Origin of awa

Borrowed from Hawaiian ʻawa.

Borrowed from Japanese 阿波 (Awa).

Questions about awa

What does awa mean?
Awa means kava, specifically Piper methysticum.
What part of speech is awa?
Awa can be a noun or a proper noun.

Words near awa in the dictionary

  1. AVX
  2. aw
  3. aw man
  4. aw shucks
  5. aw well
  6. awa
  7. Awaba
  8. Awabagal
  9. Awabakal
  10. awabi
  11. AWACS

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: awa (page history and authors); Awa (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “awa.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/awa. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.