hello
Pronunciation: /hɛˈloʊ/
The English word “hello” has 7 meanings listed here.
interjection
- A greeting (salutation) said when meeting someone or acknowledging someone’s arrival or presence.
- A greeting used when answering the telephone.
- A call for response if it is not clear if anyone is present or listening, or if a telephone conversation may have been disconnected.
- Used sarcastically to imply that the person addressed has done something the speaker considers to be foolish, or missed something that should have been obvious.
- An expression of puzzlement or discovery.
noun
- "Hello!" or an equivalent greeting.
verb
Etymology
First attested in 1826. From holla, hollo (attested 1588). This variant of hallo is often credited to 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 ēalā, such as hēlā, which was used colloquially at the time similarly to how hey and (in some dialects) hi are used…
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.