Public school children learned Pidgin from their classmates, and eventually it became the primary language of most people in Hawai‘i, replacing the original languages. In the 19th century and 20th century, Pidgin started to be used outside the plantation between ethnic groups. For example, the word stay in Pidgin has the same meaning as the Portuguese verb estar, meaning 'to be' when referring to a temporary state or location. It has also been influenced to a lesser degree by Spanish spoken by Mexican and Puerto Rican settlers in Hawaii.Įven today, Pidgin English retains some influences from these languages. Japanese loanwords in Hawaii lists some of those words originally from Japanese. As people of other nationalities were brought in to work in the plantations, such as Japanese, Filipinos, and Koreans, Pidgin English acquired words from these languages. It has been influenced by many languages, including Portuguese, Hawaiian, and Cantonese, one of the Chinese languages.

It supplanted the pidgin Hawaiian used on the plantations and elsewhere in Hawai'i. Pidgin English originated as a form of communication used between native and non-native English speakers in Hawai'i.

Hawaiian pidgin translation