UH Hilo Hawaiian language college chooses “kāhuli” as 2025 Huaʻōlelo of the Year
Kāhuli means to change, to alter, to overturn. “We’re living through an era of kāhuli politically, environmentally, and culturally,” says Kaʻiu Kimura, director of UH Hilo’s Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
In 2025, ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi speakers and students in the University of Hawaiʻi 10-campus community shared their favorite Hawaiian words with UH System News, where one word was published weekly as part of their ʻŌlelo of the Week series. Each year, one word of the series is chosen as the Huaʻōlelo (Word) of the Year.
The UH Hilo Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language has chosen kāhuli as the 2025 Huaʻōlelo of the Year. Kāhuli conveys the meaning “to change, to alter, to overturn.” In the Kumulipo, the foundational creation chant, kāhuli describes the transformation that warmed the earth and unfolded the heavens, catalyzing the formation of the universe itself.
“The word kāhuli acknowledges that transformation can feel disruptive, but it’s also how new worlds emerge,” says Kaʻiu Kimura, director of UH Hilo’s Hawaiian language college.
Kāhuli
Mai nā lālani mua o ke mele koʻi honua i kaulana ma kona inoa ʻo Kumulipo i loaʻa mai ai ka hua ʻōlelo o kēia makahiki, ʻo “kāhuli.” ʻO ke “kāhuli” ka loli ʻana a ʻokoʻa mai ka hopena. ʻO ia kāhuli , ka wela hoʻi o ka honua me ka lole o ka lani, ka huna ahi i ʻoniʻoni ʻeuʻeu aʻe ai ka wale a kumu haʻohaʻo maila nā mea a pau o ke ao holoʻokoʻa nei.
He au kāhuli kēia e holo nei. He loli nui ma ke ao politika e kūʻē aupuni kūpikipikiʻō ai nā makaʻāinana a puni ka honua. He loli honua ma ke ao ʻōpua o Hawaiʻi e lewa aʻe ai nā waʻalele halihali ʻōhua maʻamaʻahia. He loli ma ke ao pāpaho nui o ka hoʻāno kūikawā i ka ʻōlelo aliʻi o ka lāhui.
Ma nēia makahiki, kai kani leo leʻa hou aʻe ai ke Kumulipo ma kona ʻāina, kona hale aliʻi ponoʻī, i ʻike mōakāka ʻia, ʻo ke kāhuli ka loli e paneʻe aukahi ai kākou mai ka nae maha ʻolu o ka uʻi lolena a e kaʻi ai kanaka i ke au e hiki mai ana.
2025 Hawaiian Word of the Year: Kāhuli
Drawn from the opening lines of the Hawaiian creation chant known as the Kumulipo, the 2025 Huaʻōlelo of the Year selected by UH Hilo Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani College of Hawaiian Language, is kāhuli — to change, to alter, to overturn. In the Kumulipo, kāhuli describes the transformation that warmed the earth and unfolded the heavens, catalyzing the formation of the universe itself.
“Kāhuli speaks to transformation at a fundamental level — not surface change, but the kind of shift that reorders everything,” explains Kimura.
Kimura points out this meaning resonates with change on multiple fronts: federal shutdowns affecting vulnerable ʻohana, rising costs reshaping island economies, climate disasters whose recovery continues across our communities. Political movements challenge unjust systems globally, while communities grapple with the cost of simply remaining home.
“We’re living through an era of kāhuli politically, environmentally, and culturally,” Kimura says.
Kimura says that in a year where the Kumulipo again resounded across its homeland, kāhuli is a reminder that transformation is both inevitable and essential. In a year when the expression “6–7” (nonsensical slang with no clear meaning, named Dictionary.com’s 2025 Word of the Year) emerged, kāhuli moves away from the middle ground, emphasizing work that looks beyond “good enough” toward something worthy of a kūpuna’s (elder) vision and moʻopuna’s (grandchild) future.
“Kāhuli distinguishes between forces that merely break things and forces that break us free — from complacency,” Kimura notes. “It insists we unsettle what doesn’t serve us to make space for what must come next.”
Mahalo!
The UH System News team sends their mahalo “to the students, faculty and staff members who shared words that inspired them,” and says they “look forward to more words in the new year!”
Story by Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
