Word of the Day · Archive
The Hawaiian word for October 20, 2026
Archive · October 20, 2026
KAPA
say it: KAH-pah
Tapa, the beaten bark cloth of old Hawaiʻi — and to name, call, or term; an edge, border, or brim: ʻElua kāua i ke kapa hoʻokahi, two of us in one tapa.
What it means
Kapa is tapa: cloth made from the beaten bark of the wauke or māmaki plant. The Pukui-Elbert entry notes that in former times the word could stand for any clothing or bedclothes, and today it is also used for a quilt or a blanket.
The same word is a verb, to call, term, or give a name to, as in kapa ʻia, “called” or “named.” And it is a word of place: the edge, border, or brim of something, the side of a road, the bank of a stream.
Say it plainly, stress on the first syllable: KAH-pah.
How to use it
Every phrase below is documented in the Pukui-Elbert dictionary entry for kapa on Wehewehe Wikiwiki.
ʻElua kāua i ke kapa hoʻokahi
“Two of us in one tapa” — said of a marriage.
Kū ma kapa
“To stand on the edge” — figuratively, to be unapproachable.
Kapa ʻia
“Called; named.”
Why this word matters
Yesterday the word was kūpono, upright and fitting. Today, a Tuesday (Pōʻalua), we turn to something you can hold: kapa, the cloth itself.
One word for what we wear, what we are called, and where things begin and end.
At Digital Piko, we make apparel, so a word that once meant clothing and bedclothes feels close to home. Tapa was made by hand, bark soaked and beaten until it became cloth. In the dictionary’s own phrasing, a marriage is two people in one tapa: ʻElua kāua i ke kapa hoʻokahi. What covers us can also hold us together.
Notice, too, that the verb kapa means to name. Being called something and being clothed in something share a single word. A name, like a garment, is given, worn, and carried.
And the edge: kū ma kapa, to stand at the border. Even that sense echoes the cloth, which has its own margins. Today, notice what you wear, what you are called, and where you choose to stand.
Sources
Kapa — tapa made from wauke or māmaki bark, formerly any clothing or bedclothes, a quilt; to call, term, or give a name to; edge, border, brim, side of a road or bank of a stream — with ʻElua kāua i ke kapa hoʻokahi and kū ma kapa, are from the Pukui-Elbert dictionary (1986) entry on Wehewehe Wikiwiki (wehe.hilo.hawaii.edu). The modern sense of a blanket is listed in Māmaka Kaiao (2003 onward) on the same site. Pōʻalua, Tuesday, is standard Hawaiian usage.