Collection of lists and structured texts    Go to Main List Index___

Hawaiian alphabet

The Hawaiian alphabet is one of the shortest in the world. It has only 13 letters. It was created by American missionaries (among whom was Elisha Loomis) in 1822 on the basis of the Latin alphabet. Prior to that, the Hawaiian language existed only in verbal form.

The original alphabet contained 12 letters, but later another character, the okina (indicated by the same sign as the apostrophe), was added. Okina represents the guttural bow and strongly affects meaning. Similar words with and without okina can have completely different meanings. Therefore, it is considered a full letter. Okina refers to consonants.

Also in the Hawaiian language there are differences in the longness of the pronunciation of vowels, which are indicated by diacritical marks.

The order of letters in the Hawaiian alphabet is different from other Latin alphabets – it has all 5 vowels first, and then 8 consonant letters.

Because of the small number of letters, foreign terms and names are adapted, so they can sound very unusual:

• Spain – Kepania
• France – Palani
• Paris – Palika
• London – Lākana
• New York – Nuioka
• Christmas – Kalikimaka
• February – Pepeluali
• August – ʻAukake
• September – Kepakemapa

Hawaiian alphabet (all letters on one line; with spaces)

A E I O U H K L M N P W ʻ (ʻokina)

Hawaiian alphabet (each letter on a separate line)

A
E
I
O
U
H
K
L
M
N
P
W
ʻ (ʻokina)

^ Top of page    Go to Main List Index___