kaona

K5A1O1N1A1

noun

A hidden or secondary meaning in Hawaiian poetry that can only be understood in cultural context; the use thereof.

OriginHawaiian kaona →
Scrabble 9
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Meanings

noun
  1. A hidden or secondary meaning in Hawaiian poetry that can only be understood in cultural context; the use thereof.

    Without the knowledge of cultural codes in Hawaiian, foreigners who understood the language could still be counted on to miss kaona

    2004 September 7, Noenoe K. Silva, Aloha Betrayed: Native Hawaiian Resistance to American Colonialism, Duke University Press, →ISBN, page 8

Origin

  1. Hawaiiankaona
  2. Englishkaona

Borrowed from Hawaiian kaona, from Proto-Central Eastern Polynesian *taoŋa "treasured possession".

More words from Hawaiian

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

AnokaNakao
Cite this entry
APA

kaona. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kaona

MLA

“kaona.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kaona. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kaona,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kaona.

Source: kaona on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.