Word of the Day · Archive
The Hawaiian word for October 3, 2026
Archive · October 3, 2026
KAPU
say it: KAH-poo
Sacred, forbidden, set apart — and the everyday “keep out” on a gate. One word for what must be protected.
What it means
Kapu is a word most people in the islands have seen before they ever studied Hawaiian — painted on a gate, nailed to a fence post, posted at the edge of a trail. Pukui and Elbert define it as “taboo, prohibition; special privilege or exemption from ordinary taboo; sacredness; prohibited, forbidden; sacred, holy, consecrated; no trespassing, keep out.”
Notice that one word carries both forbidden and sacred. In English those feel like opposites. In Hawaiian they are two faces of the same idea: something kapu has been set apart. Andrews (1865) and Parker (1922) both gloss it as “prohibited; forbidden; hence, sacred; consecrated; holy; devoted” — and as a verb, “to set apart; to prohibit from use; to make sacred or holy.”
Kapu is also the name for the old religious and social order of Hawaiʻi, which Andrews describes as “grounded upon numerous restrictions or prohibitions” — restrictions that, he notes, extended to the chiefs themselves. Modern Hawaiian keeps the word working: Māmaka Kaiao uses kapu for “reserved, as seating, parking, or other areas.”
How to use it
Every phrase below is documented in the dictionary record on Wehewehe Wikiwiki.
Hoʻokapu
“To make taboo, prohibit, sanctify, consecrate, forbid” (Pukui-Elbert). Add the causative hoʻo- and you get the act of setting something apart.
Kapu kēlā mau noho no nā luna loiloi
“Those seats are reserved for the judges” (Māmaka Kaiao). Think of it at your next hula competition or paddling regatta.
Kāʻei kū kaʻa kapu
“Reserved parking zone” (Māmaka Kaiao). The same word that once marked sacred ground now marks a parking stall.
ʻAi kapu
The “rule against men and women eating together in observance of the kapu system” (Kent, 1986). Its release was called ʻainoa — to eat freely, released from kapu.
Why this word matters
Few Hawaiian words have travelled as far. Kent (1986) notes that kapu gives English its word “taboo,” and Pukui-Elbert traces it back to Proto-Polynesian tapu — the same root heard across the Pacific today.
Kapu: not “no” so much as “this is set apart.”
The old kapu system shaped daily life in Hawaiʻi: what could be eaten, by whom, when, and where. Kent describes restrictions tied to seasons, moon phases, and the annual makahiki, and records the words for lifting one — ʻāmama, “the kapu is lifted; it is flown away!” Andrews lists four kapu nights in every month. It was a whole grammar of respect, and it was not gentle; Kent is clear that breaking the strictest kapu could cost a life.
Today the word asks something simpler of us. A kapu sign at a heiau, a fishpond, a family’s land, or a closed trail is not decoration. It means someone has decided this place, this thing, this time is set apart — and the respectful answer is to honor it.
Today is Pōʻaono, Saturday — a beach-and-trail day for a lot of us. If you see KAPU on the way, now you know exactly what it is asking.
Sources
Kapu — taboo, prohibition; special privilege or exemption from ordinary taboo; sacredness; prohibited, forbidden; sacred, holy, consecrated; no trespassing, keep out — with the derivative hoʻokapu and the Proto-Polynesian reference tapu, is from the Hawaiian Dictionary (Pukui & Elbert, 1986). The “reserved” sense and the examples kapu kēlā mau noho no nā luna loiloi and kāʻei kū kaʻa kapu are from Māmaka Kaiao. The verb sense “to set apart,” the description of the kapu system, and the four kapu nights of the month are Andrews (1865) and Parker (1922). ʻAi kapu, ʻainoa, ʻāmama, and the note that kapu gives English “taboo” are from Kent (1986). Pōʻaono, Saturday, is Pukui-Elbert (1986). All dictionary entries consulted via Wehewehe Wikiwiki (wehe.hilo.hawaii.edu) and wehewehe.org.