Word of the Day · Archive
The Hawaiian word for October 6, 2026
Archive · October 6, 2026
ʻIMI
say it: EE-mee
To look, hunt, search, seek — the reaching that comes before every discovery.
What it means
ʻImi means to look, hunt, search, seek. That is the whole of the Pukui-Elbert entry — four plain verbs — and it is enough. ʻImi is what you do when something is missing and you go after it, whether that is a lost sandal, a job, an answer, or a way of life.
The older dictionaries spell out the range. Andrews (1865) gives “to search for a thing as lost; to look after with a view to find,” and also “to seek, as for knowledge, for riches, for pleasure.” Parker (1922) adds “to explore thoroughly” and “to try or examine, as by probing or testing.” The Land Terms glossary (1995) carries that last sense into the language of research: “investigate.”
The word is old. Pukui and Elbert trace it to Proto-Polynesian *kumi, and they note a causative form, hōʻimi, and the doubled forms ʻiʻimi and ʻimiʻimi — “and other phrases with ʻimi.” There are a lot of those phrases, because there are a lot of things worth seeking.
How to use it
Every phrase below is documented in the dictionary record on Wehewehe Wikiwiki.
ʻImi naʻauao
“To seek knowledge or education; ambitious to learn; one seeking education or learning, research” (Pukui-Elbert). A poʻe ʻimi naʻauao is a scholar or scientist — literally, people who seek knowledge.
ʻImi loa
“To seek far, explore; distant traveler, explorer” — and figuratively, “one with great knowledge or avaricious for knowledge” (Pukui-Elbert). Add loa, far, and the search becomes a voyage.
ʻImi hana · ʻImi kālā
“To seek work” and “to seek money” (Pukui-Elbert). Put the thing you are looking for right after ʻimi and you have said what you are out there hunting.
ʻIʻimi
To seek, “of many and repeatedly” (Pukui-Elbert). Doubling part of the word turns one search into many people searching, or one person searching again and again.
Why this word matters
Yesterday’s word was akamai — smart, wise, expert. ʻImi is how you get there. Nobody is born akamai; they become it by looking, asking, testing, and looking again. That is why ʻimi naʻauao, to seek knowledge, is such a familiar phrase in Hawaiian education: learning is framed not as something handed to you, but as something you go out and seek.
ʻImi naʻauao: knowledge is something you go looking for.
Look at ʻimi loa, too. To seek far is to explore — and Pukui and Elbert say the same phrase names a person of great knowledge. In an island culture of voyagers, the one who traveled farthest and the one who knew the most could be the same person. Distance and wisdom go together.
The older dictionaries also keep an honest note: Andrews records e ʻimi hala, to seek some evil against someone. Seeking is a direction, not a virtue on its own. What makes ʻimi good is what you are reaching for — work for your ʻohana, knowledge for your community, the thing that was lost.
Today is Pōʻalua, Tuesday. As the UH News “ʻŌlelo of the Week” put it when it featured this word, we should take every opportunity to ʻimi naʻauao. Pick one thing you don’t know yet, and go looking.
Sources
ʻImi — “to look, hunt, search, seek,” with the causative hōʻimi, the related forms ʻiʻimi and ʻimiʻimi, and Proto-Polynesian *kumi — is from the Hawaiian Dictionary (Pukui & Elbert, 1986), as are ʻimi naʻauao (with poʻe ʻimi naʻauao), ʻimi loa, and, from its English-Hawaiian “seek” entry, ʻimi hana, ʻimi kālā, and ʻiʻimi “of many and repeatedly.” The senses “to search for a thing as lost,” “to seek, as for knowledge, for riches, for pleasure,” and e ʻimi hala are from Andrews (1865); “to explore thoroughly” and “to try or examine, as by probing or testing” are from Parker (1922); “investigate” is from Land Terms (1995). The closing thought follows the University of Hawaiʻi News “Hawaiian Word of the Week” for ʻimi (August 22, 2023), quoting Leilani Puchalski of Leeward Community College. Pōʻalua, Tuesday, is Pukui-Elbert (1986). All dictionary entries consulted via Wehewehe Wikiwiki (wehe.hilo.hawaii.edu) and wehewehe.org.