hello

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /helˈəʊ/, US /helˈoʊ/^[1]

Etymology

It is an alteration of hallo, itself an alteration of holla or hollo, a shout to attract attention.^[2][3][4][5] The cry goes back at least to the late 14th century, compare the Middle English verb halouen “to shout in the chase”.^[2] The OED cites Old High German hala, hola, the emphatic imperative of halōn “to fetch”, used especially in hailing a ferryman.^[2] Barnhart thinks that hello, hallo, holla and hollo are natural formations in English, parallel to similar ones in German and French,^[3] and the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins traces them to cries used to urge on hunting dogs.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

As a greeting: 1848 in Etymonline, in reports from the American western frontier.^[2] Barnhart dates hello to 1883, the OED's first example of it as a greeting,^[3][7] Merriam-Webster to 1877.^[4] Hallo is from 1840, in Dickens's Barnaby Rudge, and holla from 1588.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its rise as a greeting in the 1880s coincided with the spread of the telephone, where it won out as the word for answering over Alexander Graham Bell's suggestion, ahoy.^[2] The OED's first example as an answer to a telephone call is from 1892.^[7] Telephone exchange operators were known as hello-girls by 1880.^[2] Fowler in 1926 listed some fifteen variants, from halloo to hullo, and noted that hello, once an Americanism, was nearly as common as hullo in Britain.^[2] The earlier greeting was hail.^[6]

Timeline

• 1588 – holla.^[3]
• 1840 – hallo, in Dickens.^[3]
• 1848 – hello, a greeting.^[2]
• 1880 – hello-girls.^[2]
• 1883 – hello.^[3][7]
• 1892 – answering the telephone.^[7]
• 1897 – noun.^[7]

Modern meaning

Interjection

1. Used as a greeting or to begin a telephone call.
2. Used to attract attention or to express surprise.

Noun

1. A call or greeting of hello.

Verb

1. To say or call hello.

Related words

• hallo
• hollo
• holla
• halloo
• hullo
• holler
• hail

Usage notes

In southeastern Lincolnshire dialect, to do something like hello was to do it with ridiculous ease.^[8]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ 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)