Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. Reduplication of ʻō #1; to pierce, lance, poke, put in, insert; to pierce the fetus in the womb with a sharp instrument in order to practice infanticide; to abort; to cut, as to let blood; to hurl, as a spear.

• Examples:
  • Lele ʻōʻō, to leap into the water feet first, without splashing.
  • ʻŌʻō heʻe pali (Kep. 103), to poke out tiny octopuses from cracks.
• Related:
  • hōʻōʻō Caus/sim.; To insert, put in, pierce, cause to pierce.

2. n., Digging stick, digging implement, spade.

• References:
  • PCP kookoo.

3. n., A black honey eater (Moho nobilis 🌐), with yellow feathers in a tuft under each wing, which were used for featherwork; endemic to island of Hawaiʻi, now extinct.

• Related:
  • M. bishopi, endemic to Molokaʻi, possibly also extinct.
  • M. apicalis, the extinct Oʻahu species.
  • The Kauaʻi species was called ʻōʻō ʻāʻā.
• References:
  • See ʻēʻē #2, pīpī #3.
  • PPN koo.

4. n., A type of fish, perhaps a swordfish.

Black honeyeater. There are four species, three of which (Acrulocercus apicalis, Acrulocercus nobilis, and Acrulocercus bishopi, on the islands of Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi, and Molokaʻi, respectively) are extinct. The Kauaʻi honeyeater, ʻōʻōʻāʻā (Acrulocercus braccatus) was thought to be extinct, but in 1978 John Sincock sighted one deep in the Alakaʻi Swamp, a drenched jungle in the Wai-ʻaleʻale mountain area, claimed to be the wettest spot in the world. The black honeyeater is entirely black except for a tuft of yellow feathers under each wing, which were widely used in the illuminations of capes, helmets, and belts for royalty.

Digging stick used to make holes for the slips, vines, or cuttings of the sweet potato. (NP 136.)

Digging sticks made of various woods. 1. alaheʻe, a large, native hardwood shrub (Canthium odoratum). (NEAL 797). 2. kauila, a native of the buckthorn family supplying a very hard wood. (NEAL 541). 3. ʻūlei, a native spreading shrub (Osteomeles anthyllidifolia) noted for its toughness. (NEAL 387.)

A bird that lives in the mamane trees. In re Boundaries of Kaohe, 8 Haw. 455, 456 (1892).