The Island of Hawai?i, also called the Big Island or Hawai?i Island (pronounced /h??wa?.i/ in English and [h??w?i?i] or [h??v?i?i] in Hawaiian), is a volcanic island in the U.S. State of Hawaii in the North Pacific Ocean. With an area of 4,028 square miles (10,432 km²), it is larger than all of the other Hawaiian Islands combined and is the largest island in the United States.
Hawai?i is said to have been named for Hawai?iloa, the legendary Polynesian navigator who first discovered it. However, other accounts attribute the name to the legendary land or realm of Hawaiki, a place from which the Polynesians originated (see also Manua), the place where they go in the afterlife, the realm of the gods.