kanaka

[ kuh-nak-uh, -nah-kuh, kan-uh-kuh ]

/ kəˈnæk ə, -ˈnɑ kə, ˈkæn ə kə /

a native Hawaiian.

a South Sea islander.

Origin of kanaka

< Hawaiian: person

kan., kana, kana-majiri, kanae, kanak, kanaka, kanamycin, kananga, kanara, kanarak, kanarese

Three Kanaka men, strangers to the island, sat cross-legged on the turf.

The Best Short Stories of 1921 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story |Various
The Kanaka easily could be mistaken for a woman, as he also, like Sidney, was slender and smooth-chinned.

The Green Mummy |Fergus Hume
The next day I spent in reading and sleeping, except when I took the launch to go watch the Kanaka boys fish.

Through the South Seas with Jack London |Martin Johnson
Why, either of these men talk better English than any ordinary Kanaka who has made a four years' voyage in a whaler.

There She Blows! |William Hussey Macy

One of the Kanaka hands was in waiting to put the doctor across.

The Marriage of Esther |Guy Boothby

Kanaka

/ (kəˈnækə, ˈkænəkə) /

(esp in Hawaii) a native Hawaiian

(often not capital) Australian any native of the South Pacific islands, esp (formerly) one abducted to work in Australia

C19: from Hawaiian: man, human being