Hapa
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the Hawaiian language, hapa is strictly defined as: portion, fragment, part, fraction, installment; to be partial, less. It is a loan from the English word half. However, it has an extended meaning of "half-caste" or "of mixed descent". This is the only meaning of the term in Hawaiian Pidgin, the creole spoken by many Hawai'i residents.
Used without qualification, hapa is often taken to mean "part white", and is short hand for hapa haole. The term can be used in conjunction with other Hawaiian racial and ethnic descriptors to specify a particular racial or ethnic mixture. Examples of this include:
- hapa haole (part Caucasian/white)
- hapa kanaka (part Hawaiian)
- hapa popolo (part African/black)
- hapa kepani (part Japanese); the term hapanese is also encountered
- hapa pilipino (part Filipino)
- hapa pake (part Chinese)
- hapa kolea (part Korean)
- hapa kamoa (part Samoan)
- hapa sepania (part Spanish)
- hapa pukiki (part Portuguese)
While the terms haole and popolo are no more inherently derogatory than white or black, they are sometimes used as racial or ethnic slurs. One should be careful using these terms.
Hapa-haole can also be used to describe anything hybrid. Hapa Hula is the name of a type of Hawaiian music in which the tune and styling are typically Hawaiian, but the lyrics are in English or mostly in English.
The word "hapa" is often used to describe a person of partial Asian or Pacific Islander racial/ethnic heritage.
