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Hello

Definition: Hello

Hello

Noun

1. An expression of greeting; "every morning they exchanged polite hellos".

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "hello" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references)

 

Specialty Definition: Hello

DomainDefinition

Multilingual Slang

Arabic (keefic). (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Common phrases in different languages

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Here is a list of common phrases in different languages.

It is possible for tourists in a country whose language they do not understand to get along with a surprisingly short list of phrases, combined with pointing, miming, and writing down numbers on paper.

You are invited to add more languages to the list. Please use the minimum number of words that would be understandable and put the pronunciation in slashes according to SAMPA transcription if possible. If desired, also add a pseudo-English pronunciation guide for those not familiar with SAMPA or IPA. However, actual pronunciations of the pseudo-English spellings will vary wildly from speaker to speaker. Enclose the "spelling guide" in parentheses, separate syllables with dashes, use English words that sound like the syllables if possible, and render the stressed syllable in ALL CAPS.

The language family of every language is listed in parentheses.

English (Germanic)

As a sample, here's English, according to British Received Pronunciation, followed by American English/Standard American English:

Albanian (Albanian)

Note: All the sounds above are in the Ogg Vorbis format.

Arabic (Semitic)

Note that this is relevant only to Classical Arabic; since these are commonplace words, they're often changed in local dialects, meaning most Arabs, even educated ones, will have difficulty understanding these in common usage.

Pronunciation guide: Stress in Arabic is most often on the penult syllable (i.e. one preceding the last). For the SAMPA transcriptions, /h/ is a glottal fricative; /h./ represents a voiceless pharyngeal fricative; /‘/ represents a voiced pharyngeal fricative; /’/ represents a glottal stop, and /:/ represents lengthening of the preceding phoneme. These are represented as double letters in the "spelling guide", and should be emphasized; the other spellings should be apparent from comparison with the SAMPA transcription.

note: these were snagged off of Ajeeb.com's Web translator, with SAMPA and spelling guide renderings a best-guess only.

Basque

Note on SAMPA: a comma after a fricative indicates that it is apical rather than laminal.

Chakobsa (Fictional from the Dune series)

Catalan (Romance)

Chinese, Mandarin (Chinese)

Note: tone 1 is high and level; 2 is rising; 3 is dipping; 4 is falling. A dot following SAMPA palatals indicates a retroflexed phoneme. For more info, see pinyin.

(Usage Note: The second syllable of "nei4 ge" is actually a generic measure word; it is replaced by the appropriate measure word for the noun it refers to. Therefore, one uses "nei4 kuai4" when referring to a chopstick, "nei4 zhang1" when referring to a table, and so forth.) (Usage Note: This actually means "it is" and can only be used in an answer to a question with the verb "to be". Languages like Chinese, Irish, Toki Pona, and Welsh do not have words for "yes" or "no". Instead you repeat the main verb of the question in your answer.)

Czech (Slavic)

Danish (Germanic)

(Usage Note: No word directly corresponds to the word "please". Danish and Finnish express the concept of politeness in a request in various ways.)

Dutch (Germanic)

Esperanto (planned, based on European languages)

Estonian (Finno-Ugric)

Finnish (Finno-Ugric)

French (Romance)

German (Germanic)

Greek

Hawaiian (Malayo-Polynesian)

(Other useful words in Hawaiian:)

Hebrew (Semitic)

Hindi (Indo-Iranian)

Hungarian (Finno-Ugric)

Icelandic (Germanic)

Ido (planned, reformed version of Esperanto)

Indonesian (Malayo-Polynesian)

(note: N is pronounced like ng in king)

Interlingua (planned, based on European languages)

Irish (Celtic)

Italian (Romance)

Japanese

Klingon (Fictional from the Star Trek series)

Usage Note: Many sentences which in English would be phrased as requests are represented in Klingon by imperative verbs, which are very freely used in this language. As a result, the word "please" is absent from the Klingon lexicon. Whereas in English one asks "what is it", in Klingon one would be more likely to say yIngu' (literally, "Identify it!"), and for Klingons, "ordering" a drink is not a metaphor: romuluS HIq HInob "give me Romulan ale!"

Korean

Note: Hangeul Revised Romanization of Korean /SAMPA/ See also: Names of Korea

Latin (Italic)

Pronunciations given are the Ecclesiastical Pronunciation (Based on Italian, and used in some ceremonies by the Catholic church)

Low Saxon (Germanic)

Lojban (a priori planned language)

Maori (Austronesian)

Marathi (Indian languages)

Nigerian pidgin (English-based pidgin)

Norwegian (Germanic)

Pennsylvania German, Pennsylvania Dutch (Germanic)

(dialects may vary)

Polish (Slavic)

Portuguese (Romance)

Quenya (Fictional from J. R. R. Tolkien's work)

Romanian (Romance)

Russian (Slavic)

Sanskrit (Indo-Iranian)

Sardinian (Romance)

Serbian (Slavic)

Slovak (Slavic)

Slovene (Slavic)

Spanish (Romance)

Swahili (Bantu)

Usage Note: Greetings in Swahili are an incredibly complex affair and are a crucial aspect of Swahili culture; it is not uncommon for a conversation to last five minutes before it actually moves beyond saying "Hello". There is no generic word for "Hello" in the language, rather there are numerous options depending on the relative ages and/or race of the people involved, as well as singular and plural forms. A non-comprehensive list would include "hujambo" (reply "sijambo") for two people of similar age and race, "jambo" (reply "jambo") for between white and black people, "Shikamoo" (reply "Marahaba") for a young person to an elderly person, "Hodi" (reply "Karibu") when in the doorway of a house. There are additionally numerous informal greetings such as "Mambo", "Safi", and many more. Curiously, farewells are abrupt or even non-existent.

Swedish (Germanic)

Tagalog / Filipino (Malayo-Polynesian)

Taiwanese

See article.

Tamil (Dravidian)

Telugu (Indo-Dravidian)

Tok Pisin (Neo-Melanesian English creole)

Toki Pona (planned pidgin based on sources from around the world)

Words are accented on the first syllable.

Ukrainian (Slavic)

Welsh (Celtic)

Xhosa language (Nguni languages, Bantu)

Note: [||\\] represents a lateral click, and [K] represents a voiceless lateral fricative (equivalent to Welsh "ll").

General usage notes

Toilet vs W.C. In many countries, the abbreviation W.C. for the British "Water Closet" may be used instead of the local word for "Toilet". In U.S. English "toilet" refers to the fixture (the toilet itself) rather than the room which contains it. In German, the informal "clo" for "closet" refers to the fixture.

See also

External link

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Synonyms: Hello

Synonyms: hi (n), how-do-you-do (n), howdy (n), hullo (n). (additional references)

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Crosswords: Hello

English words defined with "hello": aloha ♦ ciao ♦ embarrassed ♦ humiliated ♦ make, mortified. (references)
Specialty definitions using "hello": hello packet, hello world, hello, wall!, hello, world, Hot Swapable Routing Protocol, How you doin? ♦ rehi ♦ Vattadehl. (references)
Non-English Usage: "Hello" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses.

German (hello), Scottish (hello), Spanish (letter), Tagalog (hello).

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Modern Usage: Hello

DomainUsage

Screenplays

Hello, Sorry about the door, Is the party over (Batman & Robin; writing credit: Akiva Goldsman)

Hello honey, I'm home (Batman Returns; writing credit: Bob Kane; Daniel Waters)

Hello Maggie (City of Angels; writing credit: Dana Stevens. Based on the screenplay for the 1997 film 'Der Himmel über Berlin')

Yeah, hello, King (Coming to America; writing credit: David Sheffield)

And all I could say was, hello. (An Affair To Remember; writing credit: Delmer Daves, Leo McCarey)

Lyrics

Hello again, hello (Hello Again; performing artist: Neil Diamond; writing credit: Neil Diamond and Alan Lindgren)

You say goodbye and I say hello (Hello, Goodbye (Lennon/McCartney); performing artist: The Beatles)

And let our hearts say hello (When Somebody Loves You; performing artist: Alan Jackson)

Say hello to the girl that I am (Overprotected; performing artist: Britney Spears)

Hello my friend we meet again (My Sacrifice; performing artist: Creed)

Movie/TV Titles

Hello (2003)

Say Hello to Yesterday (1971)

Hello Jim (1970)

Dolly! Hello (1969)

Hello Down There (1969)

Song Titles

Hello Dolly (performing artist: Louis Armstrong)

Hello (performing artist: Lionel Richie)

Hello Again (performing artist: Neil Diamond)

Hello Young Lovers (performing artist: Paul Anka)

Hello Mary Lou (performing artist: Ricky Nelson)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Hello

DomainTitle

Books

  

Periodicals

  

Theater & Movies

  

Music

  

High Tech

  

Consumer Goods

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Hello

Illustrations:
Hello

More pictures...

Computer Images:
Hello

More pictures...

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Photo Album: Hello

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

Pay phones on the docks were the primary means of saying goodbye or hello to family and friends with vessels coming and going. Credit: Fisheries.

Hello Doctor Here's A Challenge!. Credit: National Library of Medicine.

Members of the 22nd Special Naval Construction Battalion cheering news of Japan's acceptance of peace terms. Note sign: "War is over! Good-Bye Pacific. Hello USA". Credit: NAVY.

With her crew "spelling out "Hello San Diego", while en route to San Diego on 9 February 1963. She returned to San Diego, her home port, on 11 February, following a Western Pacific cruise that had begun seven months earlier, on 12 July 1962. Aircraft on her flight deck include three E-1, eleven F-8, six F-3, thirteen A-4 and nine A-1 types. Credit: NAVY.

Hello, Daddy!. Credit: Library of Congress.

Hello everybody! ol' Rip had nothin' on me!. Credit: Library of Congress.

Truck with billboard posted on side reading "Hello A.F. of L., unions should be color blind ..." by the San Francisco Branch of the NAACP, San Francisco, Calif. Credit: Library of Congress.

Hello, Bill!!! / Flohri. Credit: Library of Congress.

Banana oil. "Why hello Goof". Credit: Library of Congress.

Bringing up father. "Ah! Mrs. Jiggs, I was passing and thought I'd step in and say hello". Credit: Library of Congress.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Hello
 

"Hello Kitty" by Stephen Mishler
Commentary: "A typical pose from one of my cats on the futon."		"Hello there!" by Kenneth Love
Commentary: "A very friendly miniature donkey."

Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Use in Literature: Hello

TitleAuthorQuote

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

Douglas Adams

Hello, Michael

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Hello

SubjectTopicQuote

Business

While Koreans will not expect foreigners to be experts in the nuances of their culture, they will appreciate a show of interest in matters that are important to them. Koreans generally appreciate a foreigner’s effort in expressing a thank you (gam-sa-ham-ni-da) or a hello (an-yang-ha-say-yo) in the Korean language. (references)

Travel

Korea

Koreans generally appreciate a foreigner's effort in expressing a thank you (gam-sa-ham-ni-da) or a hello (an-yang-ha-say-yo) in the Korean language. (references)

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Spoken Usage: Hello

SpeakerPhrase(s)

Phyllis Diller

Yeah, you know what I'm talking about. I had never had such a perfect show. It was perfect from hello to good-bye.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Usage Frequency: Hello

"Hello" is generally used as an interjection -- approximately 91.76% of the time. "Hello" is used about 3,843 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words		Rank in English
Interjection91.76%3,5262,755
Noun (singular)8.24%31716,212
                    Total100.00%3,843N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Usage in Company Names: Hello

CountryName
USA

Hello Direct Inc.

 (more examples...)

Source: compiled by the editor from Icon Group International, Inc.

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Expression: Hello

Expressions using "hello": hello all ships ♦ hello packet ♦ hello sailor! ♦ hello sunshine! ♦ hello world ♦ say hello ♦ say hello to ivan ♦ say hello to smb.. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "hello": hello-and-goodbyes, Hello-goodbye, hello-o-o-o.

Ending with "hello": h-hello.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Hello

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day		ExpressionFrequency
per Day

hello kitty

9,527

hello world

78

hello

3,124

hello my future girlfriend

74

hello magazine

1,158

hello kitty desktop theme

70

hello kitty picture

813

buddy hello icon kitty

68

hello kitty wallpaper

513

hello kitty product

64

hello kitty.com

421

hello kitty bedding

64

hello direct

215

cake hello kitty

59

coloring hello kitty page

214

hello kitty merchandise

58

after hello say say

211

hello kitty store

58

hello dolly

157

you had me from hello

56

hello kitty screensaver

156

hello lyrics

53

hello kitty pic

143

evanescence hello lyrics

52

background hello kitty

142

free hello kitty wallpaper

47

com hello kitty

126

cursor hello kitty

47

after author hello say say

126

hello kitty party supply

47

hello kitty image

120

coloring hello kitty

45

hello icon kitty

118

graphic hello kitty

44

hello kitty game

113

desktop hello kitty

44

hello kitty screen saver

104

hello kitty fabric

40

hello kitty vibrator

86

hello kittie

40
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Modern Translation: Hello

Language Translations for "hello"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.

Afrikaans

  

hallo, dag (day). (various references)

   

Albanian

  

tungjatjeta (hallo). (various references)

   

Arabic 

  

‏مرحبا (hallo, welcome), ‏هتاف للترحيب, ‏أهلا (hallo). (various references)

   

Basque

  

kaixo, agur. (various references)

   

Bulgarian 

  

възглас на изненада, викам 'ало', здрасти (hi), здравей (hi), здрависване, ало (ahoy, hallo, yello). (various references)

   

Catalan

  

hola. (various references)

   

Chinese 

  

你好 (how are you). (various references)

   

Czech

  

hleïme, no ne, halo, nazdar (cheerio, hallo, hi), ahoj (ahoy, cheerio, hallo, hi, see you). (various references)

   

Danish

  

goddag (good afternoon, good day). (various references)

   

Dutch

  

hallo (hey, hi, say). (various references)

   

Esperanto

  

saluton. (various references)

   

Estonian

  

tere. (various references)

   

Faeroese

  

halló. (various references)

   

Farsi 

  

سلام کردن (Hail). (various references)

   

Finnish

  

hyvää päivää (good afternoon, good morning, how are you, how do you do), terve (cheerio, cheers, healthy, sound sane, well). (various references)

   

Flemish

  

hallo. (various references)

   

French

  

bonjour, allô. (various references)

   

French Canadian

  

bonjour. (various references)

   

Galician

  

ola. (various references)

   

German

  

hallo (folks!, hallo, halloo, hey, hi, yoo-hoo), guten tag (how do you do). (various references)

   

Greek 

  

γειά σασ (bye bye), γεία σας, γεία σου (hallo, hi), χερετισμόσ, χαιρετώ (greet, hail, salute), χαιρετισμόσ (greeting, hail, salutation, salute), χαίρετε (adieu, aloha, cheerio), εμπρός (come in, forward), ακούσατε. (various references)

   

Haitian Creole

  

bonjou (good morning). (various references)

   

Hawaiian

  

tungjatjeta. (various references)

   

Hebrew 

  

הלו. (various references)

   

Hungarian

  

halló (aural, hallo, hullo, otic), hé (heigh), szia (hallo, hi), szervusz (hallo). (various references)

   

Icelandic

  

halló, vertu blessaður, sæll (happy), blessaður. (various references)

   

Irish

  

haló. (various references)

   

Italian

  

ciao (bye, bye bye, cheerio, goodbye, hallo, hi, hi!, hullo, so long), pronto (alert, apt, finished, fit, game, hallo, hullo, inclined, Pat, prepared, prompt, quick, ready, ripe, set, speedy, through). (various references)

   

Japanese Kanji 

  

今日は