Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

n., Outcast, pariah, slave, untouchable, menial; a caste which lived apart and was drawn on for human sacrifices (these traditional meanings carried great opprobrium). Later it was used in the Bible and in formal correspondence to translate servant.

• Examples:
  • Kauā ʻai noa, kauā who eats without observation of eating taboos.
  • Kauā kuapaʻa, hard-backed outcast.
  • Kauā make loa ʻoe! You are an outcast to be killed! I'll kill you.
  • Kauā a ke Akua, servant of God.
  • ʻO wau kāu kauā, I am, your servant [signature to a letter].
• Related:
  • Also: kauwā.
  • Lesser chiefs who served higher chiefs were called kauā maoli (see aliʻi poʻe kauā).
  • hoʻokauā Caus/sim.; To burden with work, make a servant of, enslave; to act as servant or outcast.
• References:
  • See haʻalele loa #2, lauʻī pekepeke, makawela, and above for insulting names for kauā, and pejorative -a and Malo 68–72.

1. vt., To detain, gently request to remain.

• Examples:
  • Ua kāua mai ʻoia iaʻu e noho iho ā liʻuliʻu me ia, he politely asked me to stay a short time with him.

2. pronoun, We, us (dual, inclusive).

• Examples:
  • Mai kāua! Come to me.
  • Honi kāua, kiss me.
  • Iā kāua, us.
  • Aloha kāua! Warm greetings [one person to another, as at the beginning of a letter]! PPN kitaua, PNP kitaaua, PEP taaua.
• References:
  • Gram. 8.2.

nvt., War, battle; army, war party; to make war, fight.

• References:
  • PPN tauʻa .