Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. n., Ti, a woody plant (Cordyline terminalis 🌐) in the lily family, native to tropical Asia and Australia. It consists of a branched or unbranched, slender, ringed stem, ending in a cluster of narrow-oblong, leaves 30 to 60 cm long, from among which at times rises a large panicle of small, light-colored flowers. The leaves were put to many uses by the Hawaiians, as for house thatch, food wrappers, hula skirts, sandals; the thick, sweet roots were baked for food or distilled for brandy.

• Related:
  • Besides green-leaved tis, which rarely fruit, many ornamental varieties are grown in gardens, having leaves wide to narrow, large to small, the colors purple, crimson, scarlet, rust, pink, or green, striped or plain.
  • Red tis may have red flowers and berries.
  • Green ti leaves are still believed to afford protection from spirits and to purify a menstruating woman.
• References:
  • Neal 203–4.
  • Nānā 190–2.
  • See heʻe #2, hōlua kī.
  • PPN tii .

2. n., The Spanish needle (Bidens pilosa 🌐), a weed from tropical America, a kind of daisy with simple or compound leaves, small yellow flower heads, and narrow black bristle-tipped fruits.

• Related:
  • Also: kī nehe.
• References:
  • Neal 844.
  • Cf. koʻokoʻolau.

3. vt., To shoot or aim, as with a gun; to squirt water, as with a syringe; to blow from the mouth, as a fisherman spitting chewed kukui nut on the sea to quiet it; to spit, as an angry cat; to travel fast, jet, hurry, especially on horseback (Kauaʻi).

• Related:
  • hoʻokī Caus/sim.; to cause to shoot; to sick on, as a dog; to make a cat spit; to snort; emitted.
• References:
  • Cf. kai kī, kani.
  • PCP tii .

4. nvt., Bundle of 40 pandanus leaves, sorted for size and length and set aside for plaiting; to sort leaves for such a bundle.

5. Same as ʻamakihi, a bird.

6. nvt., Key, latch; key, pitch, and clef in music; to lock, as a door; to wind or set, as a clock; to roll up, as a mat.

• Source:
  • English.
• Examples:
  • E kī aku i ka puka ā paʻa, lock the door fast.

7. n., Trigger of a gun.

8. Tea.

• Source:
  • English.

9. interjection, Gee.

• Source:
  • English.

See entries below and puna kī.

kikino/hamani, Shot; to shoot, as in basketball.

• Existing dictionary word, Extended meaning
• See komohia, kuhō, pākī.

kikino/hamani, Key, in music; peg, as for tuning stringed instruments; to tune, as a stringed instrument.

• Existing dictionary word Niʻihau
• References:
  • See hua mele, kiʻeleo.

hamani To tune up, as an engine. Ua kī ʻo ia i ka ʻenekini o kōna kaʻa. He tuned up his car's engine. Dic., ext. mng.

kikino, Key, as on maps.

• Eng.
• Related:
  • Kī palapala ʻāina. Map key.
  • Kī kiʻekiʻena. Elevation key.

A shrub (Cordyline terminalis) very common in all islands at the lower edge of the woods. It is from six to twelve feet high. The natives understood how to ferment a kind of liquor from the root, and at a later period learned to distill from it a strong spirit called okolehao, from the whalers' iron try pots which were used in the distilling process. The leaves, called lai or laui, served as wrappers for food and as plates, and were also used for thatching. They afford an excellent forage for cattle.

2. n., Name given by bird-catchers to the ʻamakihi, also called by the natives Pupua lenalena, from the yellow feathers in the tail. See ʻamakihi.

3. n., English The key of a lock.