member of the Polynesian group of the Austronesian family of languages. Of the fewer than 10,000 people who speak Hawaiian, only a few hundred are native speakers, but the language is taught in some Hawaiian schools and remains important as a symbol of ethnic identity. It also is an official language of the state of Hawaii. Proto-Polynesian, the parent language of Hawaiian, was spoken in W Polynesia c.1500–1200 B.C. Hawaiian bears significant phonological similarities to the other Polynesian languages; consonant and vowel correspondences among the languages is common. Hawaiian has five long and five short vowels and eight consonants. It differs from most of the other Polynesian languages by its lack of the consonant t, which became k in Hawaiian as it diverged from the parent language.

Hawaiian can refer to:

• the Hawaiian Islands
• the Hawaiian language
• the Hawaiian People (Kānaka maoli)

Residents of the state generally do not refer to themselves as Hawaiian unless they in fact have some Hawaiian blood (see above). They might instead refer to themselves as kamaʻāina, meaning "child of the land", or as locals, especially if they were born (or at least raised) in Hawaii. These latter two terms imply origin in, or great familiarity with, Hawai'i, but not Hawaiian descent.

• Hawaiian Airlines, the 12th largest commercial airline in the United States.
• Hawaiian eruption is a type of volcanic eruption where lava flows from the vent rather than building a dome or being thrown into the air by gas pressure.
• Music of Hawaii
• The Hawaiians a football team in the World Football League from 1974 to 1975.
• the Hawaiian National

See also

• Hawaiian English
• Hawaiian name
• Hawaiian kinship
• Hawaiian shirt, or Aloha shirt, is a colorful shirt originating in Hawai'i
• Hawaiian pizza

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