# kanaka

> English word · Noun · frequency rank #90,609

## Definitions
1. A person of Hawaiian descent.
2. A South Pacific Islander, especially a labourer in Australia or Canada.

## Etymology
1840. From Hawaiian kanaka (“person”), ultimately from Proto-Polynesian *taŋata.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/kanaka