pahoehoe
UK/pəˈhəʊihəʊi/US/pəˈhoʊ.i.hoʊ.i/
pahoehoe noun: a form of lava flow of basaltic rock, usually dark-colored with a smooth or ropey surface. It is one of two chief forms of lava flow emitted from volcanoes of the Hawaiian type, the other form being aa.
Noun
pahoehoe (plural pahoehoes)
- A form of lava flow of basaltic rock, usually dark-colored with a smooth or ropey surface. It is one of two chief forms of lava flow emitted from volcanoes of the Hawaiian type, the other form being aa.
- We [...] saw ‘pahoihoi’ or solid lava forming, and also ‘aa’ or clinkers.1859, R. C. Haskell, American journal of science and arts, series XXVIII
- The twisty, ropy kind that personifies flow – all congealed motion – is called pahoehoe.2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 44
Forms of pahoehoe
| plural | pahoehoes |
|---|
Origin of pahoehoe
Borrowed from Hawaiian pāhoehoe.
Questions about pahoehoe
- What does pahoehoe mean?
- Pahoehoe means a form of lava flow of basaltic rock, usually dark-colored with a smooth or ropey surface. It is one of two chief forms of lava flow emitted from volcanoes of the Hawaiian type, the other form being aa.
- What part of speech is pahoehoe?
- Pahoehoe is a noun.
- How do you pronounce pahoehoe?
- Pahoehoe is pronounced /pəˈhəʊihəʊi/ (UK).
- What is the plural of pahoehoe?
- The plural of pahoehoe is pahoehoes.
Words near pahoehoe in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: pahoehoe (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:
Cite this entry: “pahoehoe.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pahoehoe. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.