Meaning
Makai, from Hawaiian ma kai, means at, by, or toward the sea and is widely used in Hawaiʻi directions as the opposite of mauka, inland or mountainward.
How it is used
Hawaiian dictionaries record ma kai as at or toward the sea, and Go Hawaiʻi teaches makai as a common directional word meaning toward the ocean. Like mauka, it is a relational island direction rather than a fixed compass bearing.
Examples
- “The beach entrance is on the makai side of the highway.”
- “Turn makai after the light.”
Pronunciation
/makai̯/ · mah-kai
Tone and register
Neutral and practical. The word can appear naturally in directions, property descriptions, weather talk and ordinary island navigation.
Visitor guidance
Do not translate makai as 'south.' Seaward points in different compass directions around different coasts and islands. Understand it relative to the ocean and pair it conceptually with mauka.
Cultural context
Makai and mauka give Hawaiʻi local English a directional system grounded in physical island geography. Their widespread English use reflects borrowing from Hawaiian while the words continue to belong fully to ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi.
Places represented
Open the reviewed place guide for each regional sense carried by this canonical entry.