Mai nā lālani mua o ke mele koʻi honua i kaulana ma kona inoa ʻo Kumulipo i loaʻa mai ai ka hua ʻōlelo o kēia makahiki, ʻo “kāhuli.” ʻO ke “kāhuli” ka loli ʻana a ʻokoʻa mai ka hopena. ʻO ia kāhuli , ka wela hoʻi o ka honua me ka lole o ka lani, ka huna ahi i ʻoniʻoni ʻeuʻeu aʻe ai ka wale a kumu haʻohaʻo maila nā mea a pau o ke ao holoʻokoʻa nei.
He au kāhuli kēia e holo nei. He loli nui ma ke ao politika e kūʻē aupuni kūpikipikiʻō ai nā makaʻāinana a puni ka honua. He loli honua ma ke ao ʻōpua o Hawaiʻi e lewa aʻe ai nā waʻalele halihali ʻōhua maʻamaʻahia. He loli ma ke ao pāpaho nui o ka hoʻāno kūikawā i ka ʻōlelo aliʻi o ka lāhui.
Ma nēia makahiki, kai kani leo leʻa hou aʻe ai ke Kumulipo ma kona ʻāina, kona hale aliʻi ponoʻī, i ʻike mōakāka ʻia, ʻo ke kāhuli ka loli e paneʻe aukahi ai kākou mai ka nae maha ʻolu o ka uʻi lolena a e kaʻi ai kanaka i ke au e hiki mai ana.
- Related UH News story: 2024 ʻōlelo of the year, December 9, 2024
2025 Hawaiian Word of the Year: Kāhuli
Drawn from the opening lines of the Hawaiian creation chant known as the Kumulipo, the 2025 Huaʻōlelo (Word) of the Year selected by the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo Ka Haka ʻUla o Keʻelikōlani, College of Hawaiian Language (KHʻUOK), is kāhuli—to change, to alter, to overturn. In the Kumulipo, kāhuli describes the transformation that warmed the earth and unfolded the heavens, catalyzing the formation of the universe itself.
“Kāhuli speaks to transformation at a fundamental level—not surface change, but the kind of shift that reorders everything,” said Kaʻiu Kimura, director of the Hawaiian language college.
This meaning resonates as we navigate change on multiple fronts: federal shutdowns affecting vulnerable ʻohana, rising costs reshaping island economies, climate disasters whose recovery continues across our communities. Political movements challenge unjust systems globally, while our communities grapple with the cost of simply remaining home.
“The word kāhuli acknowledges that transformation can feel disruptive, but it’s also how new worlds emerge,” explained Kimura. “We’re living through an era of kāhuli politically, environmentally and culturally.”
In a year where the Kumulipo again resounded across its homeland, kāhuli reminds us that transformation is both inevitable and essential. In a year when the expression “6–7” emerged, kāhuli moves away from the middle ground, emphasizing work that looks beyond “good enough” toward something worthy of our kūpuna’s (elder) vision and our moʻopuna’s (grandchild) future.
“Kāhuli distinguishes between forces that merely break things and forces that break us free—from complacency,” Kimura noted. “It insists we unsettle what doesn’t serve us to make space for what must come next.”
