kukui

English

Etymology

From Hawaiian kukui.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuˈku.i/

Noun

kukui (plural kukuis)

1. (Hawaii) Aleurites moluccana, the candlenut tree.
   • 2004 October 17, Garrett Hongo, “Poke”, in The New York Times‎^[1], →ISSN:

     Though I'd often eaten sashimi, poke was then completely new to me—delicious rubies of cubed fish dressed in light sesame oil, garnished with minced bits of reddish-brown seaweed and the ground centers of kukui nuts (see recipe, next page).

   • 2007 May 18, The New York Times, “Spare Times: For Children”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     “We get so wrapped up in the lei thing,” Ms. Shibata said, noting that instead of that perishable adornment, children will create bracelets of nuts from the kukui, the Hawaiian state tree.

   • 2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 43:

     Passing through a grove of kukui trees, with their silver-gray leaves, and then through a valley, they would have reached sugarcane fields, their stalks as tall as a man and densely clumped together.

Hawaiian

Etymology

From Proto-Oceanic *tuRi-tuRi (cognate with Tongan tuitui and Fijian tuitui). Sense of light comes from the nut's oily properties sought after as a source of fuel for torches.

Noun

kukui

1. Aleurites moluccana, the candlenut tree and fruit
2. torch, light, lamp

References

• Pukui, Mary Kawena, Elbert, Samuel H. (1986) “kukui”, in Hawaiian Dictionary, revised & enlarged edition, Honolulu, HI: University of Hawai'i Press, →ISBN, pages 177-8