History of Hawai'i and Native Hawaiians

Term	Contextual note	Time/Region	References
[Note on Hawaiian diacritical marks]	There are two diacritical symbols in the Hawaiian language: the glottal stop (ʻokina) and the macron (kahakō). They are essential for keeping the Hawaiian language alive. Their usage had been standardised since 1978.	Hawaiʻi	Lilinoe Andrews, Historic Hawaii
aikane (Hawaiian) aakāne (Hawaiian) moeaikane (Hawaiian) moe aikāne (Hawaiian)	Hawaiian term meaning “to cohabit, as male with male, or female with female or to commit sodomy”. In the native culture of Hawaii, an Aikāne was a close friend of the chief, with whom often but not always, he had sexual relationships. At present, the expression Moe aikāne refers to a person who had sex with another person of the same sex or gender. However, in the historic culture of the islands, this expression referred to homosexual sex between the aliʻi nui (kings or queens) and their kaukaualiʻi (men or female lesser chiefs), ritualised or not and without any concealment or problem.	Hawaiʻi, LGBTQIA+	Mosca de Colores – Gay Dictionary
Asian settler/s Asian settler colonialism	It is important to recognise the colonial complicity of Asian settlers in addition to the oppression that Asians have themselves faced in the region, beginning with plantation labour.		Bianca Isaki, HB 645, “Settler Sexuality, and the Politics of Local Asian Domesticity in Hawai‘i,” Settler Colonial Studies 1.2 (2011), 82-102.
bargain Korean	Derogatory term towards Native Hawaiians, implying they are “knock off” Asians.	Hawaiʻi, Korea	The Racial Slur Database – Hawaiians
blood quantum part Hawaiian part-Hawaiian half Hawaiian half-Hawaiian quarter Hawaiian quarter-Hawaiian	Avoid trying to quantify the amount of “native blood” an individual has. Since the introduction of Blood Quantum legislation in 1921, this mode of thinking has been used to deny multiracial Kānaka Maoli their claims to Native identity and Native land. Terms like “half-Hawaiian” or “quarter-Hawaiian” are therefore not favourable. Also see “hapa haole” below.	Hawaiʻi, mixed race history	Hawaii‘i  Public Radio - Blood Quantum Policy An Act of Compromise For Hawaiian Homes Kauanui, J. Kēhaulani. Hawaiian Blood: Colonialism and the Politics of Sovereignty and Indigeneity. Duke University Press, 2008. Arvin, Maile. Possessing Polynesians: The Science of Settler Colonial Whiteness in Hawaiʻi and Oceania. Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2019, 94.
buk-buk/s buk buk	The word “buk-buk,” literally referring to a type of insect in the Ilocano language, became a derogatory term for Filipinos in Hawai‘i prior to World War II. Today, it is used colloquially to describe immigrant Filipinos or even Hawai‘i-born Filipinos and their racial, cultural “otherness” compared to Hawaiʻi’s locals.	Hawaiʻi, Philippines	Kate Kanani Viernes, “Multi-Directional Microaggressions: Filipino Students and Everyday Racism in Hawai‘i’s K-12 Schools,” Master’s Dissertation, UCLA, 2014.
Buddhahead	A slur for Hawaiian-born Japanese Americans.	Hawaiʻi, Japan	The Racial Slur Database – Hawaiians
Captain Cook
Discovered discovery	Avoid perpetuating the narrative that Captain Cook “discovered” Hawaiʻi. The islands have a long and rich cultural history that predates his arrival.	Hawaiʻi
ʻeleʻele haole ʻeleʻele	Used in the 19th century to refer to Black people in Hawaiʻi	Hawaiʻi, 1800s	Sharma, Nitasha Tamar. Hawai’i Is My Haven: Race and Indigeneity in the Black Pacific. Duke University Press, 2021, p.43.
flora and fauna	Western scientific terms that are disliked because they do not recognise the relationality between humans and the environment, depicting animals and plants as “objects” to be collected and studied rather than living beings
half caste half-caste cross breed/s cross-breed/s half breed/s half-breed/s hybrid/s triple hybrid/s Miscegenated children mixed blood/s mixed-blood/s mongrel/s triracial tri-racial type/s Hawaiian type/s	According to sociologist Romanzo Adams, the children born to Native Hawaiian women and European whalers and fur traders in the early nineteenth century were known as “half-caste” if they were deemed “legitimate”, meaning they were born within the institution of marriage; or “Hawaiian” if they were deemed “illegitimate”, meaning they were conceived from the causal sexual liaisons of European sailors and subsequently raised by their Native Hawaiian mothers. In the State of Hawaiʻi censuses of 1866, 1878, and 1890, “half-caste” was used alongside its Hawaiian-language translation “hapa-haole” (see below).. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the term “half-caste” was frequently being used by missionaries and United States legislators to describe people of mixed Native Hawaiian and white heritage, before it was widely replaced with the terms “hybrid” and “Part Hawaiian” around 1900.	1800s-, mixed race history	Carissa Chew - British colonial constructions of the “half-caste” category in world-historical perspective Romanzo Adams, Interracial Marriage in Hawaii: A Study of the Mutually Conditioned Process of Acculturation and Amalgamation (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1937), 21-22. “State of Hawaii Census of the Haw’n Islands 1866”, 1866; “State of Hawaii Census of the Haw’n Islands 1890”, 1890. “State Of Hawaii Census Of The Hawaiian Islands 1878 And 1895”, 1875 and 1895; Bureau of Public Instruction, Report of the General Superintendent of the Census, 1890 (Honolulu: R. Grieve, Steam Book and Job Printer, 1891).
haole/s (Hawaiian)	“Haole” is a Hawaiian-language term that is used to refer to white, non-Native settlers in Hawaiʻi. It is not derogatory by nature, quite literally meaning “foreigner”. Sometimes it is disliked by white settlers themselves, although many self-identify as haole and acknowledge their settler status.	Hawaiʻi
hapa (Hawaiian) hapa haole hapa-haole	“Hapa” is the Hawaiian-language word for “half”. Since at least the 19th century, the term “hapa haole” was used as a synonym of “half caste”, specifically to refer to people with mixed Native Hawaiian and white European ancestry. When used by Native Hawaiians today, the term “hapa” is understood to indicate Native Hawaiian ancestry, although it is now more commonly used outside of Hawaiʻi by people with mixed Asian ancestry. Its appropriation by Asians and Asian Americans is disliked by some Native Hawaiians. Also see “half caste” above.	1800-, mixed-race history	Ledward, Brandon C. “Inseparably Hapa: Making and Unmaking a Hawaiian Monolith.” Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Hawaiʻi, 2007. Code Switch – “Who gets to be hapa?”
Hawaii [okina]	“Hawaiʻi” with an okina or “Hawai’i” with an apostrophe (due to most keyboards not having an okina) is widely preferred to the anglicised form “Hawaii”.	Hawaiʻi
Hawaiians	The term “Hawaiians” is criticised for its ambiguity. If referring to the Indigenous population, “Native Hawaiians”, “Kānaka Maoli” or “Kānaka 'Ōiwi” are preferred.	Hawaiʻi
Jap/s	Pejorative for Japanese people.	Hawaiʻi, Japan
Kanaka kanak	The term “kanaka” (plural: kānaka) is the Hawaiian term for “man”, however, in the 18th century it was used by white settlers and sailors as a kind of racial slur. In the early 19th century, Europeans and Americans used the term “kānaka” to refer to enslaved Pacific Islanders who were captured in the “blackbirding trade” in the South Pacific. If referring to the Indigenous population, “Native Hawaiians”, “Kānaka Maoli” or “Kānaka 'Ōiwi” are preferred.	Hawaiʻi	Chang, David A. The World and All the Things Upon It: Native Hawaiian Geographies of Exploration. University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis and London, 2016, p.33.
lava lamp lava nigger	*Reminder it is is advised not read the N-word aloud if you do not self-identify as Black, even in quotation*	Hawaiʻi, Pacific Islands	The Racial Slur Database – Hawaiians
local/s	The meaning of the term “local”, and who can claim “local” identity, has been widely debated amongst scholars.	Hawaiʻi	John Rosa, Local Story: The Massie-Kahahawai Case and the Culture of History, 2014.
mahu (Hawaiian)		Hawaiʻi	Mosca de Colores – Gay Dictionary
mango	Racial slur towards Native Hawaiians.	Hawaiʻi	The Racial Slur Database – Hawaiians
moke	In colloquial Hawaiian culture, stereotypes of mokes are comparable to those of “rednecks” in the continental United States—rural, macho, aggressive, uneducated, and lacking cultural refinement	Hawaiʻi	The Racial Slur Database – Hawaiians Kate Kanani Viernes, “Multi-Directional Microaggressions: Filipino Students and Everyday Racism in Hawai‘i’s K-12 Schools,” Master’s Dissertation, UCLA, 2014.
Native/s The natives	If referring to the Indigenous population of Hawaiʻi, “Native Hawaiians”, “Kānaka Maoli” or “Kānaka 'Ōiwi” are preferred.	Hawaiʻi
negero nika	To mean “negro” or “nigger”. This was, for example, used by missionaries in the 19th century.	Hawaiʻi, 1800s	Sharma, Nitasha Tamar. Hawai’i Is My Haven: Race and Indigeneity in the Black Pacific. Duke University Press, 2021, p.43.
taboo
Pake (Hawaiian)	Outdated Hawaiian-language term for Chinese people, now deemed pejorative.	Hawaiʻi, China
pineapple nigger	*Reminder it is is advised not read the N-word aloud if you do not self-identify as Black, even in quotation*	Hawaiʻi	The Racial Slur Database – Hawaiians
poi-belly		Hawaiʻi	The Racial Slur Database – Hawaiians
Poke knife	Slur used towards Filipino immigrants in Hawaiʻi	Hawaiʻi
pōpolo	A term used to refer to Black people in Hawaiʻi. A Hawaiian word for a non-indigenous nightshade shrub that produces black-coloured berries. It became more widely used after World War II when a notable number of African American troops were stationed in Hawaiʻi. The term itself isn’t necessarily derogatory, but it has sometimes been used in a problematic way to ostracise and denigrate people of African heritage and deny them “local” identity.	1941-, Hawaiʻi	Akiemi Glenn – A word, a plant, a group of people: unpacking “pōpolo” Sharma, Nitasha Tamar. Hawai’i Is My Haven: Race and Indigeneity in the Black Pacific. Duke University Press, 2021, p.43.
voyagers vs. islanders	The binary of “voyagers” (i.e. European explorers) and passive islanders erroneously suggest that Indigenous peoples were not conducting their own voyages prior to European contact.
Wynee wahine	The word “wahine” means woman in Hawaiʻi, but it was used by white settlers and sailors in the late eighteenth century as a kind of racial slur. “Wynee” is a mispronunciation of “wahine”, and was the name ascribed to some Native Hawaiian women by European men.	Hawaiʻi, women’s history	Chang, David A. The World and All the Things Upon It: Native Hawaiian Geographies of Exploration. University of Minnesota Press: Minneapolis and London, 2016, p.33.