What does piʻo mean in Hawaiian?
Piʻo is an arch or a bend — the curve of a rainbow, of a wave about to break, of anything bent over on itself.
The word also names the highest rank of chiefly union in old Hawaiʻi, where the line arched back on itself. A piʻo child was of such rank that commoners prostrated themselves in their presence.
In ordinary use it is the rainbow sense that shows up in names.
Say it PEE-oh. 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 piʻo is part of 3 names: 1 begin with it, 1 end with it, and 1 carry it elsewhere. Most are girl names, and all of them sit in the group of Hawaiian names meaning sky.