ʻohana

See also: ohana, and Ohana

English

Noun

ʻohana (plural ʻohanas)

1. Alternative form of ohana.
   • 1992, Thomas Kemper Hitch, “The Polynesian Economy, Sixth Century to Mid-Nineteenth Century”, in Robert M. Kamins, editor, Islands in Transition: The Past, Present, and Future of Hawaii’s Economy, Honolulu, Hi.: First Hawaiian Bank, →ISBN, page 9:

     The ancient Hawaiian society that began around the sixth century and lasted until around 1000 A.D. was based on the extended family group, the ʻohana, living and working cooperatively on the ahupuaʻa under the leadership of the most respected person in the group, the haku.

   • 1997, Judith Modell, “(Not) In My Back Yard: Housing the Homeless in Hawaiʻi”, in Jan Rensel, Margaret Rodman, editors, Home in the Islands: Housing and; Social Change in the Pacific, Honolulu, Hi.: University of Hawaiʻi Press, →ISBN, page 201:

     In 1981, the Honolulu City Council passed a zoning regulation that borrowed from traditional Hawaiian living arrangements to allow for what is termed ʻohana housing: incorporating relatives into an existing structure or building an "'accessory to the principal permitted single-family dwelling' for extra residents […] In Nn I Ke Kumu (Look to the Source), a book of Hawaiian customs and beliefs, the ʻohana is described as composed of people connected by ties of love and loyalty, duty and obligation. Members of an ʻohana may or may not be blood kin; they are related by virtue of sharing sustenance and support.

Anagrams

• A.A.O.H.N.

Hawaiian

ʻohana o mōʻī Pelekāne ― the British royal family

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʔoˈha.na/, [ʔoˈhɐ.nə]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Polynesian *kofa-ŋa (“nest”), equivalent to ʻohā (“taro corm growing from the older root”) +‎ -na (nominalizing suffix). Cognate with Maori kōhanga (“nest”), Rarotongan koʻanga (“nest”), Samoan ōfaga (“nest”), Tahitian ofaaraa (“nest”).

Noun

ʻohana

1. family, relatives, kin group; ohana

   ʻohana holoʻokoʻa ― extended family, clan

   ʻohana nui ― extended family, clan

Etymology 2

Contraction of pule ʻohana.

Verb

ʻohana

1. (intransitive) to gather for family prayers

Further reading

• Pukui, Mary Kawena, Elbert, Samuel H. (1986) “ʻohana”, in Hawaiian Dictionary, revised & enlarged edition, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN