maʻi
1. directional part. towards the speaker, this way. Come, come here, welcome; say, give (used idiomatically without preverb particles).Come. (mai + directional la is written maila and often pronounced meila but not sung that way.) 2. Towards a person, place or thing speaking, and repeated after the noun when the motion is towards the person speaking; otherwise aku or ae is used; as, mai Kauai mai, from Kauai (here) this way; mai Honolulu aku a i Kailua, from Honolulu onward to Kailua. Gram. § 75. 3. prep. from. alsomai … mai. 4. prep. From, as from a person, place or thing spoken of. 5. imminence-marking part. Almost, nearly, as though. 6. adv. Almost; nearly; near to; exposed to; about to be; mai ike ole oe ia'u, you were near never seeing me; mai make au, I was almost dead; mostly used in the beginning of a sentence. 7. preverb part. of negative command. Don't. 8. adv. An adverb of prohibition; before a verb it is used imperatively for prohibiting; mai hele oe, don't you go; mai hana hou aku, do it not again. It is often used with noho a in a prohibitory sense; as, mai noho oukou a hana kolohe, do not do mischief. seenoho. 9. v. seemae, to fade, &c. To be or to fall sick. 2 Sam. 12:15. To be diseased; to be unwell. Ioan. 11:1, 3. 10. s. Sickness generally; illness; disease; mai ahulau, mai luku, a pestilence; mai eha nui, a painful disease; mai pehu, the dropsy. 11. adj. Sick; diseased; weak. 12. nvs. sickness, illness, disease, ailment, patient, sick person; sick, ill, menstruating. 13. v. Oia kekahi mea e hooheehee ai ka ai, alaila mai iho la. Anat. 52. 14. The private parts of men or women; o ka malo, oia ka wawae e paa ai ka mai;mai wili, the venereal disease or gonorrhea. 15. genitals, genital, genital chant. maʻi were commonly named, as Hālala, overly large, for Kalākaua, and ʻAnapau, frisky, for Liliʻuokalani. 16. n. tenon.
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533
He aliʻi ka maʻi, he aliʻi ke kahuna.
The patient is a chief; the kahuna is a chief.
[The medical kahuna usually had a servant to do the work of fetching and preparing the herbs he prescribed for his patient. Thus the servant served both kahuna and patient. Often the person who gathered the herbs was an apprentice learning the art from the kahuna.]
782
He maʻi makamaka ʻole.
The disease that deprives one of relatives and friends.
[Leprosy.]
783
He maʻi nui ka hilahila.
Humiliation is a great disease.
[Shame and humiliation can make one sick at heart.]
784
He maʻi ola ʻole i kahuna.
A sickness that no kahuna can heal.
[A play on maʻi, which refers to either a sickness or the genitals. Diseases can be cured by a kahuna, but gender is something that no kahuna can change.]
785
He maʻi piʻi aliʻi ke aloha.
Love is a disease that does not even spare the chiefs.
1308
Kahi keiki maʻi lewalewa.
Small child with dangling penis.
[A term of ridicule for a small boy who acts like a grownup. Until a boy was old enough to enter the mua (men’s eating house), he wore no malo.]
2382
ʻO ia kona maʻi he ake pau.
His disease is tuberculosis.
[Said of a person who is too eager to finish his work. A play on ake pau (eager to finish), the Hawaiian term for tuberculosis (literally “consumed lung”).]
2882
ʻUpepe maʻi nui.
Flat nose [but] big genitals.
[The humorous retort of a man who is called flat-nosed.]