Wehewehe Wikiwiki Hawaiian language dictionaries

1. nvt., Bracelet, anklet; fetters, manacles, handcuffs; to put or tie on bracelets, anklets, fetters; to hogtie.

• Examples:
  • Kūpeʻe hoaka, bracelet as made of crescent-shaped hog's tusks.
  • Kūpeʻe hoʻokalakala, bracelet of boar's tusks; literally, sharp bracelet.
  • Kūpeʻe palaoa, bracelet of whale teeth, or a single pierced whale tooth on a string worn about the wrist.
  • I kō lākou kūpeʻe ʻana i nā hoe (Nak. 61), because they held back the paddles.
• Related:
  • Lāʻau kūpeʻe, stocks.

2. n., An edible marine snail (Nerita polita 🌐); the shells were used for ornaments, the rare ones by chiefs. Varieties are qualified by the terms ānuenue, ʻeleʻele, kāniʻo, mahiole, palaoa (literally, ivory, (rare), puna (rare), ʻula.

Bracelet or ornament; generally a string of shells (pūpūhoāka).

Leglet, so called because it is fastened below the knees. What were once thought to be dogʻs teeth were really human teeth, pierced and strung to be used later to make the kūpeʻe