lanai

/ləˈnɑɪ/

Other forms: lanais

If you're sitting on a covered veranda or porch that's attached to a house — especially if you happen to be in Hawaii — you're lucky enough to be lounging on a lanai.

A lanai is a very common element in Hawaiian homes and buildings; in fact, many hotels and restaurants have more than one lanai. The original purpose of a lanai, which is simply an open-sided veranda with a roof, was to provide a cool spot for sitting and enjoying a shady breeze. Modern Hawaiian buildings sometimes have "enclosed lanais," which are glass-walled, air conditioned porches. As a proper noun, Lanai is the sixth-largest Hawaiian island.

Definitions of lanai

1. noun

   a veranda or roofed patio often furnished and used as a living room
   type of:

   gallery, veranda, verandah

   a porch along the outside of a building (sometimes partly enclosed)