From en.wiktionary.org:
[helló]
** English
[en] [2007]
*** Alternative forms
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
*** Etymology
_Hello_ (first attested in 1826), from [en], [en] (attested 1588). This
variant of [en] is often credited to 吴语: Thomas Edison as a coinage for
telephone use, but its appearance in print predates the invention of the
telephone by several decades.
Ultimately from a variant of Old English [ang], such as [ang], which was used
colloquially at the time similarly to how _hey_ and (in some dialects) _hi_
are used nowadays. Thus, equivalent to a compound of [en] and [en]. Used
when drawing attention to yourself.
Possibly influenced by [osx], imperative of [osx], used in hailing a ferryman,
akin to [goh], [goh], imperative forms of [goh], [goh]. More at [en].
OED and Merriam-Webster also suggested that it is a variant of [en], a variant
of [en]. Further beyond, the origin remains uncertain. OED and
Merriam-Webster suggested that it has a connection between [en], which came
from Old French [fro], which, according to _Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch_, is
from [osx].
*** Pronunciation
- [en]
- [en]
- [hĕ-lō'] , [en]
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
- [en]
{|class="wikitable" ! Sense ! UK ! US |- |[greeting] |[en] |[en] |-
|[telephone greeting] |[en] |[en] |- |[call for response] |[en] |[en] |-
|[sarcastic implication] |[en] |[en] |- |[expressing puzzlement] |[en] | |}
- [en]
*** Interjection
[en-interj]
1. [A greeting ( salutation ) said when meet ing someone or acknowledging someone’s arrival or presence .]
2. [A greeting used when answer ing the telephone .]
3. * 2016 , VOA Learning English (see https://web.archive.org/web/20170918070146/https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/lets-learn-english-lesson-3-i-am-here/3126527.html) (public domain)
4. *: HELLO . This is Marsha. ― Yes, Marsha.
5. [A call for response if it is not clear if anyone is present or listening, or if a telephone conversation may have been disconnect ed.]
6. * [chapter=7]
7. [en] [Used sarcastic ally to imply that the person addressed has done something the speaker considers to be foolish , or missed something that should have been obvious .]
8. * [en]
9. [en] [An expression of puzzlement or discovery .]
**** Usage notes
- The greeting [en] is among the most universal and neutral in use. It may be heard in nearly all social situations and nearly all walks of life and is unlikely to offend.
- In the derived senses, the word-final stress may be emphasized to focus attention, but word-initial stress is also heard in certain contexts, such as some uses of [en] , and even in isolation.
**** Quotations
- [en]
**** Synonyms
- [greeting] [en]
- [Australia, informal] g'day , hey , hi ,
- [UK, informal] hallo , hi , hiya , ey up , you alright , alright
- [US, informal] hallo , hey , hi , howdy
- [Ireland, informal] how's it going , hey , hi
- [South Africa, informal] howzit
- [slang] wassup , what's up , yo , sup , what's good
- [expression of puzzlement] [en]
**** Antonyms
- [greeting] [en] , [en]
**** Derived terms
{{col|en|golden hello |hello again |hello girl |helloji |hello nurse |hello
there |Hello World |hello yourself, and see how you like it |yello }}
**** Descendants
- [am]
- [zh]
- [ja]
- [ms]
- [gd]
**** Translations
[greeting]{{multitrans|data=
- Abkhaz: [ab] , [ab] , [to a man] [ab] , [to a woman] [ab] , [to more than one person] [ab]
- Afrikaans: [af] , [af]
- Ahom: [aho]
- Ainu: [ain]
- Akan: [ak] [morning] , [ak] [afternoon] , [ak] [evening]
- Albanian: [sq] , [sq] [informal] , [sq]
- Aleut: [ale] , [ale]
- Alutiiq: [ems]
- Ambonese Malay: [abs]
- American Sign Language: [ase]
- Amharic: [am]
- Apache:
- Arabic: [ar] , [ar] , [ar] , [ar]
- Archi: [aqc] , [aqc]
- Armenian: [hy] [addressed to a single familiar person] , [hy] [addressed to several people] , [hy] [formal, addressed to a single unfamiliar person] , [hy]
- Assamese: [as] [very formal] , [as] [formal] , [as]
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: [aii] , [aii] [formal; to a male] , [aii] [formal; to a female] , [aii] [formal; to a group]
- Asturian: [ast]
- Azerbaijani: [az] , [az] [South Azerbaijani] , [az] , [az] , [az] , [az] , [az]
- Bambara: [bm]
- Bashkir: [ba]
- Basque: [eu]
- Bats: [bbl]
- Bavarian: [bar] , [bar] , [bar] [Timau]
- Belarusian: [be] , [be] [colloquial] , [be] , [be] [good day]
- Bengali: [bn] , [bn] , [bn] , [bn]
- Bhojpuri: [bho]
- Bouyei: [pcc]
- Bulgarian: [bg] [familiar] , [bg] [familiar] , [bg] [formal]
- Burmese: [my] < !-- lit. "it's a blessing!, ပါ (ba) is a particle" -->, [my]
- Carpathian Rusyn: [rue]
- Catalan: [ca]
- Cayuga: [cay]
- Central Atlas Tamazight: [tzm]
- Chamorro: [ch]
- Chechen: [ce] [to one person] , [ce] [to a group of people] , [ce]
- Cherokee: [chr]
- Chichewa: [ny]
- Chickasaw: [cic]
- Chinese:
- Choctaw: [cho]
- Chukchi: [ckt] [formal] , [ckt] [informal] , [ckt] [informal]
- Coptic: [cop]
- Cornish: [kw]
- Corsican: [co]
- Cree:
- Czech: [cs] , [cs] [informal] , [cs] [informal] , [cs] [formal]
- Danish: [da] , [da] , [da] [formal] , [da] , [da] [informal]
- Dhivehi: [dv]
- Dutch: [nl] , [nl] , [nl] , [nl] , [nl] [informal] , [nl] , [nl] , [nl] , [nl] [formal]
- Esperanto: [eo]
- Estonian: [et] , [et]
- Faroese: [fo] , [fo] , [fo]
- Fijian: [fj]
- Finnish: [fi] , [fi] , [fi] , [fi]
- Fox: [sac]
- French: [fr] , [fr] [informal] , [fr] [informal]
- Friulian: [fur]
- Fula: [ff]
- Galician: [gl] , [gl] , [gl]
- Georgian: [ka] , [ka]
- German: [de] , [de] , [de] , [de] , [de] [Southern German, Austria]
- Gilbertese: [gil]
- Gothic: [got] , [got]
- Greek: [el] , [el] , [el] , [el] [formal, archaic] , [el] [formal, archaic]
- Greenlandic: [kl]
- Guaraní: [gn]
- Gujarati: [gu] , [gu]
- Haitian Creole: [ht]
- Hausa: [ha]
- Hawaiian: [haw]
- Hebrew: [he] , [he]
- Hindi: [hi] , [hi] [used among Hindus] , [hi] [used among Muslims] , [hi] [Sikh, hello/goodbye] , [hi] , [hi] , [hi] , [hi]
- Hmong:
- Hungarian: [hu] , [hu] [informal] , [hu] , [hu] [somewhat formal] , [hu] , [hu] [informal] , [hu] , [hu] [formal] , [hu]
- Icelandic: [is] , [is] , [is] , [is]
- Ido: [io]
- Igbo: [ig]
- Indonesian: [id] , [id]
- Ingrian: [izh] , [izh]
- Interlingua: [ia] , [ia]
- Iquito: [iqu]
- Irish: [ga] [formal] , [ga] [formal] , [ga] [formal] , [ga] [formal]
- Isan: [tts]
- Italian: [it] , [it] , [it] , [it]
- Iu Mien: [ium]
- Jamaican Creole: [jam] , [jam]
- Japanese: [ja] , [ja] [morning] , [ja] [daytime] , [ja] [evening]
- Javanese: [jv]
- Jeju: [jje] , [jje] , [jje]
- Judeo-Tat: [jdt]
- Kabardian: [kbd]
- Kabyle: [kab]
- Kalmyk: [xal] , [xal] [informal]
- Kannada: [kn] , [kn]
- Karachay-Balkar: [krc] , [krc]
- Karelian: [krl] , [krl]
- Kazakh: [kk] [informal] , [kk] [formal]
- Khiamniungan Naga: [kix]
- Khmer: [km] , [km]
- Khün: [kkh]
- Korean: [ko] [formal] , [ko] [neutrally formal] , [ko] [informal]
- Krio: [kri]
- Kurdish:
- Kyrgyz: [ky] , [ky]
- Ladino: [lad] , [lad] , [lad]
- Lak: [lbe]
- Lakota: [lkt]
- Lao: [lo]
- Latin: [la] , [la] ; [la] , [la]
- Latvian: [lv] [informal to more than one person or people of indeterminate gender] , [lv] [to a man] , [lv] [to a woman] , [lv] [informal]
- Laz: [lzz]
- Lezgi: [lez]
- Lithuanian: [lt] , [lt] [informal] , [lt] [formal]
- Livonian: [liv]
- Lü: [khb]
- Luo: [luo]
- Luxembourgish: [lb]
- Macedonian: [mk]
- Malagasy: [mg] , [mg] [Tsimihety]
- Malay: [ms] , [ms] , [ms]
- Malayalam: [ml] , [ml] , [ml]
- Maltese: [mt] [before noon] , [mt] [after noon] , [mt] [formal one to one person] , [mt] [formal one to more than one person] , [mt] [formal more than one person to one person] , [mt] [formal more than one person to more than one persons] , [mt]
- Manchu: [mnc]
- Maori: [mi] [informal] , [mi] [formal to one person] , [mi] [formal to two people] , [mi] [formal to three or more people]
- Mapudungun: [arn]
- Maranungku: [zmr]
- Marathi: [mr]
- Michif: [crg] , [crg]
- Mingrelian: [xmf]
- Mohawk: [moh]
- Mon: [mnw]
- Mongolian:
- Mopan Maya: [mop]
- Nahuatl: [nah] , [nah]
- Navajo: [nv]
- Neapolitan: [nap]
- Nepali: [ne] , [ne]
- Norman: [nrf] [Guernsey] , [nrf] [Guernsey] , [nrf] [continental Normandy] , [nrf] [Jersey] , [nrf] [Sark]
- Northern Thai: [nod]
- Norwegian:
- Nuosu: [ii]
- Nǀuu: [ngh] , [ngh] [Western] , [ngh] [Eastern] , [ngh] , [ngh] , [ngh] [Western] , [ngh] [Eastern] , [ngh] ["hello over there"] , [ngh] ["hello there"] , [ngh]
- Occitan: [oc] , [oc] [formal "you"] , [oc] [informal "you"]
- Odia: [or]
- Ojibwe: [oj]
- Okinawan: [ryu] , [ryu] , [ryu]
- Old English: [ang]
- Oromo: [om]
- Ossetian: [os] , [os] , [os]
- Pa'O: [blk] , [blk] [colloquial]
- Palauan: [pau]
- Pashto: [ps] , [ps] , [ps]
- Persian:
- Picard: [pcd]
- Pitcairn-Norfolk: [pih]
- Polish: [pl] [informal] , [pl] , [pl] , [pl] [more formal] , [pl] [formal] , [pl] [informal] , [pl] , [pl] [on phone] , [pl] [colloquial] , [pl] [colloquial] , [pl] [colloquial] , , [pl] , [pl] , [pl]
- Portuguese: [pt] , [pt] , [slang] [pt]
- Punjabi: [pa]
- Rapa Nui: [rap]
- Romani: [rom] [to a male] , [rom] [to a female] , [rom] [to two or more people]
- Romanian: [ro] , [ro] , [ro] [informal] , [ro] [formal] , [ro]
- Russian: [ru] [informal] , [ru] [colloquial] , [ru] [formal, first " в " is silent] , [ru] , [ru] [informal, first " в " is silent] , [ru]
- Rwanda-Rundi:
- Sami:
- Samoan: [sm]
- Sanskrit: [sa] , [sa] , [sa] [formal]
- Santali: [sat]
- Scots: [sco]
- Scottish Gaelic: [gd] [informal] , [gd] [formal] , [informal] [gd]
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Sesotho: [st]
- Shan: [shn]
- Shona: [sn]
- Sicilian: [scn] , [scn] , [scn]
- Sindhi: [sd]
- Sinhalese: [si] , [si]
- Situ: [sit-sit]
- Slovak: [sk] , [sk] [informal] , [sk] [informal] , [sk] [formal]
- Slovene: [sl] , [sl] [informal] , [sl] , [sl] [formal]
- Somali: [so] , [so]
- Sorbian:
- Sotho: [st]
- Southern Thai: [sou]
- Spanish: [es] , [es] , [es] , [es]
- Sundanese: [su]
- Svan: [sva]
- Swahili: [sw] , [sw]
- Swedish: [sv] , [sv] , [sv] [formal] , [sv] , [sv] [informal] , [sv]
- Tagalog: [tl] / [tl] , [tl] [slang] , [tl] , [tl] , [tl] / [tl] [informal] , [tl] / [tl] [informal]
- Tajik: [tg]
- Tamil: [ta]
- Tangsa: [nst]
- Tatar: [tt]
- Telugu: [te] , [te]
- Tetum: [tet] , [tet]
- Thai: [th] , [th] [male speaker] , [th] [female speaker] , [th]
- Tibetan: [bo]
- Tigrinya: [ti]
- Tongan: [to]
- Tswana: [tn] [singular, as in _dumela, rra_ , "hello sir"] , [tn] [plural, as in _dumelang, borra_ , "hello gentlemen"]
- Turkish: [tr] , [tr] , [tr]
- Turkmen: [tk] , [tk] , [tk] , [tk]
- Tuvan: [tyv]
- Udmurt: [udm] , [udm] , [udm] , [udm]
- Ukrainian: [uk] [informal] , [uk] [informal] , [uk] [neutral or formal] , [uk] , [uk] , [uk] , [uk]
- Urdu: [ur] , [ur] , [ur] , [ur]
- Uyghur: [ug]
- Uzbek: [uz]
- Venetan: [vec]
- Vietnamese: [vi] , [vi]
- Volapük: [vo]
- Walloon: [wa] , [wa] , [wa] [old]
- Welsh: [cy] , [cy] [good morning] , [cy] [good day] , [cy]
- West Frisian: [fy] , [fy]
- Winnebago: [win] [male speaker] , [win] [female speaker] , [win]
- Xhosa: [xh] , [xh]
- Xibe: [sjo]
- Yakut: [sah] , [sah] [informal]
- Yiddish: [yi] , [yi] , [yi]
- Yoruba: [yo] [polite] , [yo] [non-polite]
- Yup'ik: [esu] , [esu]
- Zapotec: [zap]
- Zazaki: [zza] , [zza]
- Zhuang: [za]
- Zulu: [zu] [familiar] , [zu] [plural]
}} [trans-bottom]
[when answering the telephone]{{multitrans|data=
- Afrikaans: [af]
- Albanian: [sq]
- Arabic: [ar] , [ar] , [ar] , [ar]
- Armenian: [hy]
- Assamese: [as]
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: [aii]
- Azerbaijani: [az]
- Bashkir: [ba]
- Belarusian: [be]
- Bengali: [bn]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Burmese: [my]
- Catalan: [ca] , [ca] , [ca] , [ca]
- Chinese:
- Czech: [cs]
- Danish: [da]
- Dutch: [nl]
- Esperanto: [eo]
- Estonian: [et] , [et]
- Finnish: [fi]
- French: [fr]
- Galician: [gl]
- Georgian: [ka] , [ka]
- German: [de]
- Greek: [el] , [el] , [el]
- Hawaiian: [haw]
- Hebrew: [he] , [he]
- Hindi: [hi] , [hi] , [hi]
- Hungarian: [hu]
- Icelandic: [is] , [is] , [is] , [is] , [is]
- Indonesian: [id]
- Interlingua: [ia]
- Irish: [ga]
- Italian: [it]
- Jamaican Creole: [jam]
- Japanese: [ja]
- Kazakh: [kk]
- Khiamniungan Naga: [kix]
- Khmer: [km]
- Korean: [ko]
- Kurdish:
- Kyrgyz: [ky]
- Lao: [lo] , [lo]
- Latin: [la] , [imperative] [la]
- Latvian: [lv]
- Lithuanian: [lt] , [lt]
- Macedonian: [mk]
- Malagasy: [mg]
- Malay: [ms]
- Maltese: [mt]
- Marathi: [mr]
- Mari:
- Nepali: [ne] , [ne]
- Norwegian: [no]
- Odia: [or]
- Persian:
- Polish: [pl] , [pl]
- Portuguese: [pt] , [pt]
- Romani: [rom]
- Romanian: [ro] , [ro]
- Russian: [ru] , [colloquial] [ru] , [ru]
- Scottish Gaelic: [gd]
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Sicilian: [scn] , [scn]
- Slovak: [sk] , [sk]
- Slovene: [sl] , [sl]
- Spanish: [es] [Latin America] , [es] [Mexico] , [es] [Spain] , [es] [Spain] , [es] [Argentina] , [es] [Cuba] , [es] [Spain]
- Swedish: [sv] , [sv] , [sv] [formal]
- Tagalog: [tl] , [tl]
- Tajik: [tg] , [tg] , [tg]
- Thai: [th] , [th] [formal] , [th] [informal]
- Tongan: [to]
- Turkish: [tr] , [tr]
- Turkmen: [tk]
- Ukrainian: [uk] , [uk]
- Urdu: [ur]
- Uyghur: [ug] , [ug]
- Uzbek: [uz]
- Vietnamese: [vi]
- Welsh: [cy]
- West Frisian: [fy]
- Zazaki: [zza]
}} [trans-bottom]
[is anyone there?]{{multitrans|data=
- Afrikaans: [af]
- Arabic: [ar]
- Armenian: [hy]
- Assamese: [as] , [as]
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: [aii]
- Azerbaijani: [az]
- Belarusian: [be]
- Bengali: [bn]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Catalan: [ca] , [ca]
- Chinese:
- Czech: [cs]
- Danish: [da]
- Dutch: [nl]
- Esperanto: [eo]
- Estonian: [et]
- Finnish: [fi] , [fi]
- French: [fr] , [fr] , [fr] , [fr]
- German: [de] , [de]
- Hebrew: [he]
- Hungarian: [hu]
- Icelandic: [is]
- Interlingua: [ia]
- Italian: [it] , [it]
- Japanese: [ja] [formal and informal] , [ja] [formal] , [ja] [informal] , [on the phone] [ja]
- Korean: [ko] [formal]
- Lithuanian: [lt]
- Macedonian: [mk]
- Malay: [ms]
- Maltese: [mt]
- Nepali: [ne] , [ne]
- Norwegian:
- Odia: [or]
- Polish: [pl] , [pl]
- Portuguese: [pt]
- Romanian: [ro] , [ro]
- Russian: [ru] , [ru]
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Slovak: [sk]
- Slovene: [sl]
- Spanish: [es] , [es] [Latin America]
- Swedish: [sv]
- Tagalog: [tl] , [tl]
- Tatar: [tt] , [tt]
- Telugu: [te]
- Thai: [th]
- Turkish: [tr]
- Ukrainian: [uk]
- Urdu: [ur]
- Vietnamese: [vi]
- Welsh: [cy]
- Zazaki: [zza] , [zza]
}} [trans-bottom]
[sarcastic: that was foolish]{{multitrans|data=
- Afrikaans: [af]
- Arabic: [ar]
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: [aii]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Chinese:
- Danish: [da] , [da]
- Dutch: [nl]
- Estonian: [et] , [et] , [et]
- Finnish: [fi]
- French: [fr]
- German: [de] , [de]
- Hebrew: [he]
- Hungarian: [hu] , [hu] , [hu] , [hu] , [hu] [rude]
- Icelandic: [is]
- Italian: [it]
- Japanese: [ja] [formal and informal] , [ja] [informal] , [ja] [formal and informal] , [ja] [more informal] , [ja] [informal] , [ja] [more informal]
- Macedonian: [mk]
- Norwegian:
- Portuguese: [pt] , [pt]
- Romanian: [ro]
- Russian: [ru] , [ru]
- Slovene: [sl]
- Swedish: [sv] , [sv]
- Tagalog: [tl] , [tl] , [tl] / [tl] , [tl] / [tl]
- Vietnamese: [vi]
}} [trans-bottom]
[expression of puzzlement]{{multitrans|data=
- Afrikaans: [af]
- Arabic: [ar]
- Assyrian Neo-Aramaic: [aii]
- Belarusian: [be]
- Bulgarian: [bg]
- Catalan: [ca]
- Chinese:
- Danish: [da]
- Dutch: [nl]
- Finnish: [fi]
- French: [fr]
- German: [de]
- Hebrew: [he]
- Hindi: [hi]
- Icelandic: [is]
- Japanese: [ja] [Sure?] , [ja] [You are joking, formal and informal] , [ja] [Are you all right?] , [ja] [Are you all right?] , [ja] [Are you sure?, You're kidding!] , [ja] [Are you sure?, You're kidding!]
- Norwegian:
- Portuguese: [pt] , [pt]
- Romanian: [ro]
- Slovene: [sl]
- Swedish: [sv]
- Tagalog: [tl] / [tl] , [tl] , [tl] / [tl] , [tl]
- Vietnamese: [vi]
- West Frisian: [fy]
- Zazaki: [zza] , [zza]
}} [trans-bottom]
[checktrans-top]
- Fijian: [fj]
- Irish: [ga]
- Maori: [mi]
- Marshallese: [mh] < !-- uncertainty of orthography -->
- Nahuatl: [nah]
- Nepali: [ne]
- Tatar: [tt] , [tt] (1), [tt] , [tt] (2)
- Urdu: [ur] , [ur]
- Vietnamese: [vi] ( [vi] , [vi] , [vi] , [vi] , [vi] , [vi] , [vi] ) [vi]
- Woiwurrung: [wyi] , [wyi]
[trans-bottom]
**** See also
- :Category:English greetings
- [pedia]
*** Noun
[s]
1. "Hello !" or an equivalent greeting.
2. * {{ quote-journal | en | date=April 29, 2007 | author=Stephanie Rosenbloom | title=A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood | work=New York Times | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/29/fashion/29condo.html
|passage=In many new buildings, though, neighbors are venturing beyond
tight-lipped HELLOS at the mailbox.}}
**** Synonyms
- [en]
**** Derived terms
[en]
*** Verb
[pres_3sg2=helloes]
1. [en] To greet with "hello".
2. * [en]
3. * [en]
4. * [en]
5. * [en]
*** Anagrams
- [en]
[en]
** French
*** Etymology
From [fr].
*** Pronunciation
- [fr]
*** Interjection
[fr]
1. [fr] [en] , hi
*** Further reading
- [R:fr:TLFi]
[fr]
** Fula
*** Etymology
[ff].
*** Noun
[ngo]
1. a page
2. one side of a wall , a wall
3. a slap in the face
*** References
- [R:Bah 2014]