greeting

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English greting, inherited from Old English grēting,^[2][3][4] the verbal noun of grētan,^[5][6][7] the ancestor of greet, with the suffix -ing.^[2][6][3] The verb meant to come in contact with someone or something, and so to attack or accost as well as to salute or welcome,^[5][8] and comes from Proto-West Germanic *grotjan,^[5][9] cognate with Old Saxon grōtian, Dutch groeten and German grüßen.^[10][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A salutation: in the Old English translation of Bede, where the pope sends Edwin greeting.^[6][4] Dictionary.com dates the word to before 900 and Merriam-Webster to before the 12th century.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old English the noun already covered courteous words on meeting, the respectful address due to a superior, the formal opening of letters, and respectful action or worship,^[4] and could also mean a present given in acknowledgment of a favour.^[4] The gospels use it for the greetings in the streets that the scribes love,^[4] and Ælfric opens a letter mid Godes grétinge.^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it as a salutation at meeting or a compliment at a distance, quoting Shakespeare's Winter's Tale.^[11] It has named both the action and a single instance,^[6][7] and is frequent in the plural.^[7] The greeting card is first recorded in 1876,^[5] and the Shorter Oxford also has greetings card.^[7] American slang clipped the word to greet by 1908, with greets recorded in 1986.^[12]

Timeline

• before 900 – a salutation, in the Old English translation of Bede.^[6][3]
• 1876 – greeting card.^[5]
• 1890 – adjective, that greets or salutes.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Words used to welcome someone on meeting; a salutation: She answered his greeting with a nod.^[2][7][6]
2. A gesture of welcome, often a traditional one: She bowed in greeting.^[2][7]
3. A message of goodwill from someone absent, often in the plural: Send them my greetings.^[2][7]

Adjective

1. Used for or relating to greeting: a greeting card.^[2][6]

Word family

• greetingless
• greeting card
• greetingly

Related words

• greet

Usage notes

In Scots and northern dialect greeting can also mean weeping or lamentation, recorded from before 1300, with a separate source in the greet that means to weep.^[6][3][13]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
4. ^ a b c d e f Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)