Hoa Hakananai’a is a moai, a statue from Easter Island. It was taken from Orongo, Easter Island (Rapa Nui) in 1868 by the crew of a British ship and is now in the British Museum in London.[1]

It has been described as a “masterpiece"[2] and among the finest examples of Easter Island sculpture.[3] Though relatively small, it is considered to be typical of the island’s statue form,[4][5] but distinguished by carvings added to the back, associated with the island’s birdman cult.[6]

The statue was identified as Hoa Hakananai’a by islanders at the time it was removed; the British crew first recorded the name in the form ‘Hoa-haka-nana-ia’ or ‘Hoa-haka-nama-ia’.[7] It has been variously translated from the Rapa Nui language to mean ‘breaking wave’,[8] ‘surfriding’,[7] ‘surfing fellow’,[9][10] ‘master wave-breaker’,[11] ‘lost or stolen friend’,[12] ‘stolen friend’, ‘hidden friend’[13] or ‘doing robberies/mockeries friend’.[9]

Wikipedia