Hawaiian

/həˈwaɪ.ən/

Hawaiian adjective: descended from the peoples inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands prior to European contact.

Adjective

Hawaiian (comparative more Hawaiian, superlative most Hawaiian)

Descended from the peoples inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands prior to European contact.
Of or pertaining to the Hawaiian race, culture, or language.
Of or pertaining to the culture of the US state of Hawaii.
Of or pertaining to a resident of the US state of Hawaii.

Noun

Hawaiian (countable and uncountable, plural Hawaiians)

(countable) A descendant of the peoples inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands prior to European contact.
- He felt having a Micronesian navigator meant he needed a pureblooded Polynesian, preferably a Hawaiian, as captain.2007 May 27, Douglas Martin, “Kawika Kapahulehua Dies; Hawaiian Seafarer Was 76”, in The New York Times
(countable, nonstandard, proscribed) A native or resident of the state of Hawaii in the United States of America.
A pizza topped with ham and pineapple.
- "A plain tomato cheese, two Hawaiians and a Coke," I told Greg, finally earning me a brief smile. […] Darrell paused to tear off a bite of ham and pineapple.2009, David Grace, Fever Dreams
- Faced with a choice between the Supreme, the Hawaiian [...], the Capricciosa or the Meat Lovers', the bogan will invariably gravitate to the meal most likely to induce a fatal disease.2010, Michael Jayfox, E. Chas McSween, Intravenus DeMilo, Enron Hubbard, Hunter McKenzie-Smythe, Flash Johnson, Things Bogans Like, Sydney: Hachette, page 117

Proper noun

Hawaiian

The Hawaiian language.

Hawaiian meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Tagalog

Hawaiian in Tamil

Hawaiian language: ஹவாய் மொழி havāy moḻi

Hawaiian in Malayalam

Hawaiian language: ഹവായിയൻ havāyiyaṉ

Hawaiian in Tagalog

of or having to do with the culture of the US state of Hawaii: Hawayano
descended from the peoples inhabiting the Hawaiian islands prior to European contact: Hawayano
of or having to do with the Hawaiian race, culture, or language: Hawayano
Hawaiian language: Hawayano

More languagesFewer languages

Hawaiian in Arabic: اللغة الهاوائية al-luḡa l-hawayiya
Hawaiian in Malay: bahasa Hawaii
Hawaiian in Indonesian: bahasa Hawaii
Hawaiian in Persian: زبان هاوایی zabân hâvâyi
Hawaiian in Thai: ชาวฮาวาย, ถิ่นที่อยู่ฮาวาย, ภาษาฮาวาย phās̄ʹā ḥāwāy
Hawaiian in Vietnamese: tiếng Hawaii

Forms of Hawaiian

Adjective
comparative	more Hawaiian
superlative	most Hawaiian
alternative form	Hawaiʻian
alternative form	Hawai'ian
alternative form (rare)	Hawaian
alternative form (rare)	Hawaiiian
Noun
plural	Hawaiians

Origin of Hawaiian

From Hawaii + -an.

Words formed from Hawaiian

Words that rhyme with Hawaiian

9 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about Hawaiian

What does Hawaiian mean?: Hawaiian means descended from the peoples inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands prior to European contact.
What is Hawaiian in Hindi?: Hawaiian in Hindi is हवाईवी (havāīvī). See Hawaiian meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is Hawaiian?: Hawaiian can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Hawaiian?: Hawaiian is pronounced /həˈwaɪ.ən/.

Words near Hawaiian in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: Hawaiian (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Hawaiian.wav.

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