Word of the Day · Archive
The Hawaiian word for October 7, 2026
Archive · October 7, 2026
MAKANA
say it: mah-KAH-nah
Gift, present, reward — and the act of giving it freely.
What it means
Makana means gift. Pukui and Elbert give “gift, present; reward, award, donation, prize; to give a gift, donate.” It is a noun and a verb at once: the thing you hand over, and the handing over itself.
The older dictionaries put the weight on how a makana moves. Andrews (1865) defines it as “a gift; that which is freely bestowed upon one by another; a present; that which is received gratuitously,” and as a verb, “to give freely or gratuitously; to make a present to one.” As an adjective it means “freely given or received, as a present.” Parker (1922) carries the same definitions forward. The key word, again and again, is freely.
One of Pukui and Elbert’s examples shows how the word looks both ways: kāna makana, “his gift,” they note, can mean a gift he gives or one he receives. In makana, giver and receiver share the same word.
How to use it
Every phrase below is documented in the dictionary record on Wehewehe Wikiwiki.
Kāna makana
“His gift [one that he gives or receives]” (Pukui-Elbert). The possessive tells you whose gift it is, but not which direction it traveled — context does that.
Makana kā hoʻi!
“What a gift!” (Pukui-Elbert) — with their honest note that it is “sometimes said sarcastically, indicating that a person is ungrateful.” Tone of voice does a lot of work here.
Makana, Kauaʻi
A cliff near Hāʻena Point in the Hanalei district, “from which firebrands were hurled; known today as Fireworks Cliff” — literally, gift (Place Names of Hawaiʻi).
Makana (computers)
In modern Hawaiian, Māmaka Kaiao extends the word to a browser cookie — “a small tag file left on a computer hard drive by a server.” An old word for a gift, stretched to name a little something a website leaves behind.
Why this word matters
Yesterday’s word was ʻimi, to seek — going out after what you need. Makana is the other half of that story: what comes to you without being hunted down, and what you give without being asked. Andrews keeps coming back to the same idea: freely bestowed, received gratuitously, given freely.
A makana is defined by how freely it is given.
The 1872 Bible dictionary Wehiwehi Baibala, in its entry for makana, describes the gift as a way that ka mahalo a me ke aloha — gratitude and aloha — are made plain, from the oldest times. It names the hoʻokupu offered to chiefs as one kind of gift. A makana carries a feeling across from one person to another.
Pukui and Elbert’s example Makana kā hoʻi! is a quiet reminder that gifts have a receiving side, too. Said sincerely, it is delight. Said with a roll of the eyes, it names someone who did not appreciate what they were given. Receiving well is part of the exchange.
Today is Pōʻakolu, Wednesday. Give one small makana today — food, time, a ride, a kind word — and give it freely, with nothing expected back.
Sources
Makana — “gift, present; reward, award, donation, prize; to give a gift, donate,” with the examples kāna makana and Makana kā hoʻi! — is from the Hawaiian Dictionary (Pukui & Elbert, 1986). “A gift; that which is freely bestowed upon one by another; a present; that which is received gratuitously,” “to give freely or gratuitously,” and “freely given or received, as a present” are from Andrews (1865), repeated in Parker (1922). Makana cliff (“Fireworks Cliff”) is from Place Names of Hawaiʻi (1974). The computer “cookie” sense is from Māmaka Kaiao. The passage on gratitude, aloha, and hoʻokupu is paraphrased from the makana entry in Wehiwehi Baibala (1872). Pōʻakolu, Wednesday, is standard Hawaiian usage. All dictionary entries consulted via Wehewehe Wikiwiki (wehe.hilo.hawaii.edu) and wehewehe.org.