Lani
/ˈlɑːni/noun
A Hawaiian word and personal name meaning sky, heaven, or heavenly; it can also suggest high rank or royalty.
Did you know?In Hawaiian tradition, lani could describe not only the heavens but also chiefs and royalty, whose elevated status was associated symbolically with the sky.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Austronesian
PAN
*laŋit
“Sky or heavens; a reconstructed ancestral form”
Proto-Polynesian
PPN
*laŋi
“Sky or heaven”
Early Polynesian
Polynesian
*lagi / *rangi
“Sky, heavens, or upper realm in related Polynesian languages”
Precontact Hawaiian
Hawaiian
lani
“Sky, heaven, heavenly, high, or chiefly”
19th Century–Present
English/Hawaiian
Lani
“A Hawaiian loanword and personal name associated with heaven, the sky, or elevated status”