Etymology tree
Proto-Austronesian *qaləp
Proto-Austronesian *qaləpan
Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *qaləpan
Proto-Central-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *qaləpan
Proto-Eastern Malayo-Polynesian *qaləpan
Proto-Oceanic *qalopan
Proto-Polynesian *qarofa
Hawaiian alohabor.
English aloha
Borrowed from Hawaiian aloha (“love”), from Proto-Polynesian *qarofa. Doublet of aroha and aropa.
Meanings
(Hawaii) Good wishes, love, compassion, peacefulness and affection.
When I got back to Hawaii, a feeling of aloha flooded me, and my anxiety vanished.
Uncle Onio exemplifies aloha by sharing his broad knowledge of Hawaiian culture and weaving techniques. 2026, Rebecca Fox, “Weaving with Aloha”, in Handwoven, volume XLVII, number 1, page 80:
Traveling as the princess regent with a retinue that included Princess Ruth and Queen Kapi‘olani, Lili‘u was welcomed by enormous crowds and lavish outpourings of aloha, as her subjects clasped her knees and kissed her hands and feet to show their reverence. 2012, Julia Flynn Siler, Lost Kingdom, Grove Press, page 91:
(Hawaii) An utterance of aloha (see Interjection, below).