Word of the Day · Archive
The Hawaiian word for September 30, 2026
Archive · September 30, 2026
HOʻOMANAWANUI
say it: hoh-oh-mah-nah-wah-NOO-ee
Patience, steadfastness, fortitude — the strength to endure i ka lā a me ka ua, in the sun and the rain.
What it means
Hoʻomanawanui is patience with a spine in it. Pukui and Elbert define it as “patience, steadfastness, fortitude; to have patience, fortitude; patient, steadfast, courageous and persevering; to try one’s patience.” It works as a noun, as a verb, and as a description of a person.
Look inside the word. Andrews (1865) breaks the root manawanui into manawa, time, and nui, much — “to be a long time.” Add the causative hoʻo- and you get something like making room for a lot of time. Andrews goes on: “to be patient; to be long-suffering; to continue steadfast, to bear up against difficulties; to be persevering.”
The older sources agree. Parker (1922) gives “the being patient; patience” and “endurance,” and notes that hoʻomanawanui is the proper form over plain manawanui. Judd, Pukui and Stokes (1943) put it in four words: “patience: to endure.”
How to use it
Every phrase below is documented in the dictionary record on Wehewehe Wikiwiki.
E hoʻomanawanui
“Be patient” (Pukui-Elbert). E + verb is the gentle command form — what you say to a keiki in line, or to yourself in traffic.
He kanaka hoʻomanawanui i ka lā a me ka ua
“A man who patiently endures the sun and the rain” — the Pukui-Elbert example. Here the word describes a person: he kanaka + hoʻomanawanui.
He nohona hoʻomanawanui
“A way of life that tries one’s patience” (Pukui-Elbert). The same word can name the virtue or the thing that tests it.
Why this word matters
Hawaiian patience is not waiting around. The dictionary pairs it with courageous and persevering, and its example is someone standing in the sun and the rain. It is the patience of a farmer in the loʻi, a paddler on a long crossing, a student learning a language one word at a time.
Hoʻomanawanui: make room for a lot of time.
UH News featured it as an ʻŌlelo of the Week in 2022, with a student at UH Hilo describing it as what lets us keep carrying our kuleana when results do not come quickly — not giving up, and continuing the work.
It follows our last word, noʻeau. Skill takes time; hoʻomanawanui is how you get there. And it has a quieter cousin already in this archive, ahonui — patience, endurance — if you want to learn them side by side.
Today is Pōʻakolu, Wednesday — the middle of the week, when patience is usually running a little thin. E hoʻomanawanui.
Sources
Hoʻomanawanui — patience, steadfastness, fortitude; to have patience, fortitude; patient, steadfast, courageous and persevering; to try one’s patience — with the examples e hoʻomanawanui, he kanaka hoʻomanawanui i ka lā a me ka ua, and he nohona hoʻomanawanui, is from the Hawaiian Dictionary (Pukui & Elbert, 1986). The breakdown manawa, time, and nui, much, and “to be patient; to be long-suffering; to continue steadfast, to bear up against difficulties” are Andrews (1865); “the being patient; patience,” “endurance,” and the note on the preferred form are Parker (1922); “patience: to endure” is Judd, Pukui & Stokes (1943). The student reflection is from UH News, “Hawaiian Word of the Week: Hoʻomanawanui” (November 8, 2022). Pōʻakolu, Wednesday, is Pukui-Elbert (1986). All dictionary entries consulted via Wehewehe Wikiwiki (wehe.hilo.hawaii.edu) and wehewehe.org.