Hapa
In the Hawaiian language and in Hawaiian Pidgin, a hapa is an individual of mixed racial or ethnic heritage. Used without qualification in Hawaii, it is often taken to mean "part white", and is short hand for hapa haole. In the Hawaiian language, the word "hapa" can also simply mean half, part, or fragment. It is a loan from the English word half.
The term can be used in conjunction with other Hawaiian racial and ethnic descriptors to specify a particular racial or ethnic mixture. Examples of this include:
- hapa haole (part Caucasian/white)
- hapa kanaka (part Hawaiian)
- hapa popolo (part African/black)
- hapa kepani (part Japanese); the term hapanese is also encountered
- hapa pilipino (part Filipino)
- hapa pake (part Chinese)
- hapa kolea (part Korean)
- hapa kamoa (part Samoan)
- hapa sepania (part Spanish)
- hapa pukiki (part Portuguese)
While the terms haole and popolo are no more inherently derogatory than white or black, they are sometimes used as racial or ethnic slurs. One should be careful using these terms.
Hapa-haole can also be used to describe anything hybrid. It is the name of a type of Hawaiian music in which the tune and styling are typically Hawaiian, but the lyrics are in English or mostly in English.
The word "hapa" is now increasingly used to describe a person of partial Asian or Pacific Islander racial/ethnic heritage.
Famous "hapas"
- Main list: List of Eurasians
- Jason Scott Lee: film actor; 3/4 Chinese and 1/4 Hawaiian
- Keanu Reeves: film actor and musician; 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 Hawaiian, and 1/2 English
- Tyson Beckford: actor/model; black and Chinese
- Michelle Branch: pop singer/songwriter; Indonesian, Irish, French, and Dutch
- Dean Cain: television and film actor; Japanese (1/4), French-Canadian, Irish, and Welsh
- Johnny Damon: Major League Baseball player; white father and Thai mother
- Brandon Lee: film actor; son of Bruce (Chinese) and Linda Lee (white)
- Greg Louganis: legendary diver; Samoan biological father and Swedish biological mother, though more often identified as Greek, the ethnicity of his adoptive family
- Chad Morton: NFL player; black father and Japanese mother
- Johnny Morton: NFL player; black father and Japanese mother
- Apolo Anton Ohno: Olympic short track speed skating competitor; Japanese and white
- The Rock (Dwayne Johnson): WWE wrestler turned actor; son of Rocky Johnson (Black Canadian) and his Samoan wife
- Mike Shinoda: MC, keyboardist, rhythm guitarist and co-producer of the band Linkin Park; 1/2 Japanese and 1/2 Russian-Hungarian
- Kimora Lee Simmons: fashion designer and former model, married to Russell Simmons; Japanese and black
- Marques Tuiasosopo: NFL player; Samoan father and white mother
- Camile Velasco: American Idol finalist, recording artist
- Hines Ward: NFL player; black father and Korean mother
- Tiger Woods: pro golfer; 1/4 Thai, 1/4 Chinese, 1/4 black, 1/8 white, and 1/8 Native American
- Russell Wong: television and film actor; Chinese, Dutch, French, and Native American