Aloha in all Polynesian languages and always with the same basic meaning of: love, compassion, sympathy and kindness although the use in Hawaii has a seriousness lacking in the Tahitian and Samoan meanings. Its beginnings may be seen in the Maori definition as "love of kin". Mary Kawena Pukui wrote that the "first expression" of "aloha" was between a parent and child. The word has become a part of the English vocabulary in an awkward misuse. The term is now part of English vocabulary. "The Oxford English Dictionary" defined the word as a "greeting" like "welcome" and "farewell" using a number
Aloha of examples dating back as far as 1798 and up to 1978 where it was defined as a substitute for "welcome". The modern, common use epitomizes the appropriation of the Hawaiian Language and the cultural dispossession of Native Hawaiians. Lorrin Andrews wrote the first Hawaiian dictionary, called "A dictionary of the Hawaiian language". In it he describes "aloha" as "A word expressing different feelings; love, affection, gratitude, kindness, pity, compassion, grief, the modern common salutation at meeting; parting". Mary Kawena Pukui and Samuel Hoyt Elbert's "Hawaiian Dictionary: Hawaiian-English, English-Hawaiian" also contains a similar definition. The modern use as a greeting