humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa

See also: humuhumu-nukunuku-apuaʻa

Hawaiian

FWOTD – 19 October 2012

Alternative forms

humuhumu-nukunuku-apuaʻa

Etymology

Compound of humuhumu (“triggerfish”) +‎ nuku (“snout”) +‎ nuku (“blunt”) +‎ ā (conjunction between two adjectives) +‎ puaʻa (“pig; pig-like”) = “triggerfish with a snout that is blunt and pig-like”.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˌhu.muˌhu.muˌnu.kuˌnu.ku.aː.puˈa.ʔa/, [ˌhu.muˌhu.muˌnu.kuˌnu.ku.waː.puˈwɐ.ʔə]

Noun

humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa

reef triggerfish, humuhumunukunukuapuaa
- 1998, He Moʻolelo No Kamapuaʻa, G.W. Kahiolo, page 15:
  Ko ia nei heleāiʻa akula nō ia ma ke kino humuhumunukunukuapuaʻa a hiki kēia i Molokaʻi.
  He swam away very quickly in his fish form as a reef triggerfish until he finally reached Molokai.

References

Lorrin Andrews (1865) A Dictionary of the Hawaiian language, page 225
Mary Kawena Pukui, Samuel H. Elbert (1986) Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian, →ISBN, page 91