Where does “Hilo” come from?
Hilo is a Hawaiian place name of unknown origin and meaning.
Ancestry of “Hilo”, step by step
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Hawaiian | Hilo | first night of new moon in the old Hawaiian calendar |
| 2 | Proto-Indo-European | pilos | — |
| 3 | French | pileux | hair |
| 4 | Latin | pilōsus | hairy, shaggy |
| 5 | Latin | pīlus | a hair |
| 6 | Latin | pīlum | a pounder, pestle |
| 7 | Proto-Italic | pistlom | — |
| 8 | Proto-Indo-European | pis-tlo- | — |
| 9 | Proto-Indo-European | peys- | to grind, to crush |