Kanaka
/kəˈnɑːkə/noun
A Hawaiian word meaning “person” or “human,” also historically used in English for a Pacific Islander laborer.
Did you know?In nineteenth-century English, Kanaka became a colonial labor term, especially for Pacific Islanders recruited or coerced into plantation work, and is now often considered dated or offensive outside Hawaiian usage.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Polynesian
Proto-Polynesian
*taŋata
“Person or human being”
Proto-Eastern Polynesian
Proto-Eastern Polynesian
*kanaka
“Person or human; the initial sound shifted from t to k in this branch”
18th Century
Hawaiian
kanaka
“Person, human being, or individual”
19th Century
English
Kanaka
“A Pacific Islander, especially a laborer recruited for plantation or other manual work”
Modern English
English
Kanaka
“A historical or colonial-era term for a Pacific Islander; often dated or offensive, while kanaka remains an ordinary Hawaiian word for person”