Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Hawaiian” come from?

Hawaiian derives from English Hawaii, from Hawaiian Hawaiʻi, from Proto-Polynesian Sawaiki, with the English adjective suffix ultimately from Latin -anus, a suffix forming adjectives from nouns.

Hawaiian (English): Descended from the peoples inhabiting the...

Definitions

  1. Descended from the peoples inhabiting the...

Ancestry of “Hawaiian”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1EnglishHawaii—
2HawaiianHawaiʻiHawaiian
3Proto-Nuclear PolynesianSawaikitraditional homeland
Every word from Proto-Nuclear Polynesian Sawaiki →