meli
/ˈme.li/
The word for honey in Hawaiian is meli.
meli is the sweet substance made by bees. It is the food, not a pet name.
Meaning: sweet substance produced by bees (noun)
Which one should you use?
To call someone honey in a romantic sense, Hawaiian uses Kuʻuipo, which means my sweetheart.
How do you pronounce it?
The IPA is /ˈme.li/. It has two syllables with the stress on the first.
What mistakes should you avoid?
Do not use meli as a term of affection for a partner. Use Kuʻuipo for that.
Did you know?
- Because the missionaries wanted a word that was 'pure' and neutral, they bypassed Hawaiian roots entirely and borrowed from Ancient Greek.
- Because of its Greek origins, meli is one of the few words in the Hawaiian language that does not follow traditional Polynesian linguistic patterns.
- In Hawaiian, the word for 'kiss' is honi, which sounds remarkably like the English word 'honey' but has a completely different meaning.
Examples in context
- 1839 Ka Baibala: Lunakanawai 14:8 (tr. Authorized Version of the Bible, Judges 14:8)And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.This verse from Judges in the 1839 Hawaiian Bible tells of bees and honey in the body of a lion.
- Ua like ke aloha me ke waihunaLove is like honey.
- Aloha kuʻuipoHello, honey.
- He meli kēia.This is honey.
- Makemake au i ka meli.I want honey.
Example conversation
Noelani and Keanu are preparing tea in the kitchen.
- NoelaniKeanu, aia ka meli?Keanu, is the honey there?
- KeanuĀiō, aia ma luna o ka papa.Yes, it is on the table.
- NoelaniMahalo, e huki mai ia.Thanks, pass it here.
- KeanuʻAe, eia ka meli.Yes, here is the honey.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “honey” translations and entries meli, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries meli, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
