Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. nvi., Bonito, skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis 🌐), an important food; to run, of aku.

• Examples:
  • Ua aku ʻo Mahaiʻula (FS 287), bonitos are running at Mahaiʻula [place at Keāhole quadrangle, Kona, Hawaiʻi].
• Related:
  • Young of this fish are called kīnaʻu and ʻāhua.
• References:
  • PPN ʻatu.

2. Particle expressing direction away from the speaker, and time either past (with nei) or future (without nei, sometimes translated soon).

• Related:
  • Aku contrasts with mai and sometimes may be translated away.
  • Hele aku, go away.
  • Kūʻai aku, to sell.
  • Kēlā makahiki aku nei, last year.
  • Kēlā pule aku nei, last week.
  • ʻApōpō ā ia lā aku, day after tomorrow.
  • Nehinei ā ia lā aku, day before yesterday.
  • Kēia lā aku, later today, sometime today.
  • I aha ʻia aku nei? What happened a while ago?
  • Na Ioane aku i nā ʻekalekia (Hoik. 1.4), John said to the churches.
  • Aku + demonstrative lā is pronounced and written as a single word, akula. ʻĪ akula ʻoia, he said to someone far away (cf. aʻe #4).
  • Aku sometimes expresses the comparative degree: Nā mea nui aku i kēia, things larger than this.
  • In an idiom, aku is sometimes used as a noun after the plural definite article nā: I nā aku, right away, soon. He mea ʻai i nā aku (Kep. 121), food will be here soon.
• References:
  • Table 12 in Gram. 7.2.
  • PPN atu.

Bonito or skipjack tuna (Euthynnus pelamis). Also called striped tuna and little tunny. It is perhaps the most important fish in Hawaiʻi. According to tradition, Pili, a king in Tahiti, was persuaded to come to Hawaiʻi to strengthen the kingly line. On his trip he was accompanied by two schools of fish: one of aku, which took care of the paddling, and the other of ʻōpelu, which calmed the winds. (MALO 6–7.)

One of the two fish that accompanied Pili on his voyage to these islands. Aku helped paddle the canoe and ʻōpelu calmed the winds. (MALO 4:13.)

(ke) aku bonito.

verbal directive.