humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa

Hawaiian

FWOTD – 19 October 2012
humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa

Alternative forms

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.kuˌaː.puˈa.ʔa/, [ˌhu.muˌhu.muˌnu.kuˌnu.kuˌwaː.puˈwɐ.ʔə]

Noun

humuhumunukunukuāpuaʻa

  1. 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

Further reading

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