Waikiki is a famous beach and the tourist district around it, on the south shore of Honolulu, on the island of Oʻahu in Hawaii. It is the picture most people have in their heads when they think of Hawaii: a long curve of sand, high-rise hotels standing right behind it, surfers and beginner surf lessons in the gentle waves, and the volcanic crater Diamond Head at one end. It is a proper noun, so it always takes a capital W and no 'the' — you go to Waikiki, you stay in Waikiki, you walk along Waikiki Beach. In English it is usually said 'wye-kee-KEE'. The name is Hawaiian and means roughly 'spouting fresh water', because the area was once wetland fed by springs and streams. Because it is so famous, the name is often used as a shorthand for a certain kind of holiday — sun, hotels, crowds, shopping — and travel writers sometimes use it slightly critically, meaning a beach that has become too built-up and too busy, as against a quiet wild one.