Word of the Day · Archive
The Hawaiian word for October 13, 2026
Archive · October 13, 2026
HULA
say it: HOO-lah
The Hawaiian dance, and the chant that moves it — a way of carrying story, memory, and feeling in the whole body.
What it means
Hula is the hula: the dance itself, the person who dances it, and the verb “to dance the hula.” The Pukui-Elbert dictionary gives it all three ways. He hula is “a hula dancer.”
The same entry gives a second meaning that is easy to miss: hula is also the song or chant used for the dance, and to sing or chant for a hula. Dance and voice are not separate things here. The chant is part of the hula, and the hula is part of the chant.
The dictionary also lists a plain bodily sense, to twitch or to throb, as a muscle or an eyelid does. Say it in two beats with the stress on the first: HOO-lah. The u is the “oo” in “moon,” and the final a is open, like “ah.”
How to use it
Every phrase below is documented in the Pukui-Elbert dictionary or, where noted, in Kent (1986), as shown on Wehewehe Wikiwiki.
Kumu hula
“Hula instructor” (Kent). Kumu is source, foundation, teacher, so the kumu hula is the one who holds the dance and passes it on.
Hālau
“Long house, as for canoes or hula instruction” (Pukui-Elbert). Kent records the phrase hālau hula for a house of hula instruction.
Hoʻohula
To cause someone to dance, or to pretend to hula (Pukui-Elbert). The hoʻo- prefix means “to cause” or “to make.”
Hula kuhi lima
“A sitting dance with hand gestures and swaying of the torso” (Pukui-Elbert). Kuhi is to point or gesture, and lima is hand or arm.
Why this word matters
Yesterday’s word was hōʻailona, a sign that stands for something larger than itself. Hula is a word for that kind of making: a body, a voice, and a gesture standing in for a place, a story, or a person.
In hula, the dance and the chant are the same word.
The dictionary does not treat hula as a thing you watch from outside. One entry holds the dancer, the dancing, and the chant that goes with it. Around it sits a whole vocabulary of teaching: the kumu hula who instructs, the hālau that houses the learning, and hoʻokuhi, the art of teaching gesture.
The dictionary also names dozens of hula by style, and by the instruments and creatures they are named for. That range is a reminder that hula is not one dance. It is a living family of practices, each with its own teachers and its own lineage.
Gesture is part of the grammar, too. Kuhi, to point or gesture, is the same word used for the hand movements of hula. A hand that points is a hand that speaks.
Today is Pōʻalua, Tuesday. If you have a chance to see hula this week, a hālau practice, a performance, or a keiki learning a first step, watch the hands and listen to the voice. Then ask what story is being carried.
Sources
Hula — the dance, a dancer, to dance the hula; the song or chant for the dance; and to twitch or throb — along with he hula (a hula dancer), hoʻohula (to cause to dance, or to pretend to hula), hālau (“long house, as for canoes or hula instruction”), kuhi (to point or gesture, as in hula), hoʻokuhi (to teach the art of gesturing in the hula), and hula kuhi lima (a sitting dance with hand gestures and swaying of the torso) are from the Pukui-Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary (1986) as shown on Wehewehe Wikiwiki (wehe.hilo.hawaii.edu). Kumu hula (hula instructor) and the phrase hālau hula are from Kent, Hawaiian-English Dictionary (1986), on the same site. Pōʻalua, Tuesday, is standard Hawaiian usage.