Hawaiian Word of the Week: Ao

On my latest trip to Hawaii, I spent a crazy amount of time looking up. I was mesmerized with the clouds I had seen one day and each subsequent day, I looked at the clouds to see the different formations and was stunned by their beauty. 

In Hawaiian, the word for cloud is “ao” (pronounced: ah-oh). But this is really a generic term for cloud. Since Hawaii has so many different types of ao, there are usually descriptors added to “ao” to provide the specific type of clouds seen. Ao in Hawaii are described by their appearance or by their color: for example, a long, narrow cloud close to the horizon is called “ao ōpua” or a black cloud would be called “‘ele’ele”. 

Ao have a deep meaning to Hawaiians: not only did the ao bring life (water) for the Hawaiians, but ao were used as signs to predict a particular happening. But to be able to interpret the signs, requires the specificity of the type of ao, the color of ao, etc. 

I didn’t always see the ao as a sign of rain or of predicting the future….. I always see a fluffy pillow that makes me want to relax on the islands. 

How do you feel when you see ao?

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