Word of the Day · Archive
The Hawaiian word for October 12, 2026
Archive · October 12, 2026
HŌʻAILONA
say it: hoh-eye-LOH-nah
Sign, symbol, emblem, omen — a mark that stands for something larger than itself.
What it means
Hōʻailona is a sign, a symbol, an emblem. The Pukui-Elbert dictionary lists a wide family of meanings under it: “sign, symbol, representation, insignia, emblem, mark, badge, signal, omen, portent, target,” and also a token of recognition. It is the word for a thing that points beyond itself.
The older records show the same root idea. Andrews (1865) describes the noun as “a sign of something different from its appearance,” a forerunner or sign of what is expected, and a part that stands for the whole. As a verb, in the older sources, it means to mark, to set a mark upon someone, and to sound the depth of water.
Say it as four beats with the stress on the third: hoh-eye-LOH-nah. The ai after the ʻokina is a diphthong that sounds like the English word “eye,” and the ʻokina before it is a small catch in the voice.
How to use it
Every phrase below is documented in the Pukui-Elbert dictionary or in the Māmaka Kaiao modern-vocabulary record on Wehewehe Wikiwiki.
Hōʻailona kūʻauhau
“Family crest or coat of arms” (Pukui-Elbert). Kūʻauhau is genealogy, so this is, literally, the sign of a lineage.
Hōʻailona mōʻī
“Badge or emblem of royalty, sceptre” (Pukui-Elbert). Mōʻī is a sovereign, so this is the sign that marks one.
Hōʻailona lanakila
“Emblem or trophy of victory” (Pukui-Elbert). Lanakila is victory.
Hōʻailona hoʻokū
“Stop sign” (Māmaka Kaiao, traffic sign). The same record gives hōʻailona hōʻae for “yield sign.”
Why this word matters
YesterdayLast week’s word was kiaʻirsquo;s word was kiaʻi, the one who keeps watch. Hōʻailona is what a watcher learns to read.
A hōʻailona is not the thing itself. It is what the thing asks you to notice.
The dictionary gathers a surprising range under this one word: a family crest, a royal badge, a trophy of victory, a stop sign on the highway. In every case, something small and visible carries the weight of something larger — a lineage, a sovereign, a win, a rule.
The older records push the idea further. Andrews describes it as a sign of something different from its appearance, and a forerunner of what is expected. That is the omen sense: the way a person reads a cloud, a bird, or a change in the wind as a message and not just weather.
The word has also kept growing. Māmaka Kaiao, the modern vocabulary record, uses hōʻailona for traffic signs and for mathematical symbols, which shows the old word still doing new work.
Today is Pōʻakahi, Monday. As the week begins, notice one sign you usually walk past — a mark, a symbol, a small change in the day — and ask what it stands for.
Sources
Hōʻailona — “sign, symbol, representation, insignia, emblem, mark, badge, signal, omen, portent, target,” and the compounds hōʻailona kūʻauhau (family crest or coat of arms), hōʻailona mōʻī (badge or emblem of royalty, sceptre), and hōʻailona lanakila (emblem or trophy of victory) — are from the Pukui-Elbert Hawaiian Dictionary (1986) as shown on Wehewehe Wikiwiki (wehe.hilo.hawaii.edu). Hōʻailona hoʻokū (stop sign) and hōʻailona hōʻae (yield sign) are from Māmaka Kaiao (2003+). The description of the noun as “a sign of something different from its appearance” and a forerunner of what is expected is from Andrews, A Dictionary of the Hawaiian Language (1865). Pōʻakahi, Monday, is standard Hawaiian usage.