The word aloha derives from the Proto-Polynesian root *qarofa.
It has cognates in other Polynesian languages, such as Samoan alofa and Māori aroha, also meaning "love".
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. Anthropologist Francis Newton states that "Aloha is a complex and profound sentiment. Such emotions defy definition".
Anna Wierzbicka concludes that the term has "no equivalent in English"