What does hiʻi mean in Hawaiian?
Hiʻi is to hold a child in the arms, carried against the body. It is a word about tenderness and about being held rather than about lifting a weight.
Hiʻilei, a name built from it, is a lei held in the arms — a child cherished the way a garland is. Hiʻiaka, the youngest sister of Pele, carries the same root: she was carried as an egg in Pele's armpit.
Say it HEE-ee. Every vowel is pronounced, and the capitalized syllable takes the stress. The ʻokina (ʻ) is a short catch in the voice, like the break in “uh-oh”. The pronunciation guide covers the rules.
On this site hiʻi is part of 3 names: 3 begin with it, 0 end with it. Most are girl names, and all of them sit in the group of Hawaiian names meaning love.