The word hello come from

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«Hello!» redirects here. For the British magazine, see Hello! (magazine).

Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826.^[1]

Early uses

Hello, with that spelling, was used in publications in the U.S. as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the Norwich Courier of Norwich, Connecticut.^[1] Another early use was an 1833 American book called The Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett, of West Tennessee,^[2] which was reprinted that same year in The London Literary Gazette.^[3] The word was extensively used in literature by the 1860s.^[4]

Etymology

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, hello is an alteration of hallo, hollo,^[1] which came from Old High German «halâ, holâ, emphatic imperative of halôn, holôn to fetch, used especially in hailing a ferryman».^[5] It also connects the development of hello to the influence of an earlier form, holla, whose origin is in the French holà (roughly, ‘whoa there!’, from French là ‘there’).^[6] As in addition to hello, halloo,^[7] hallo, hollo, hullo and (rarely) hillo also exist as variants or related words, the word can be spelt using any of all five vowels.^[8][9][10]

Telephone

The use of hello as a telephone greeting has been credited to Thomas Edison; according to one source, he expressed his surprise with a misheard Hullo.^[11] Alexander Graham Bell initially used Ahoy (as used on ships) as a telephone greeting.^[12][13] However, in 1877, Edison wrote to T. B. A. David, president of the Central District and Printing Telegraph Company of Pittsburgh:

Friend David, I do not think we shall need a call bell as Hello! can be heard 10 to 20 feet away.
What you think? Edison – P.S. first cost of sender & receiver to manufacture is only $7.00.^[11]

By 1889, central telephone exchange operators were known as ‘hello-girls’ because of the association between the greeting and the telephone.^[13][14]

A 1918 fiction novel uses the spelling «Halloa» in the context of telephone conversations.^[15]

Hullo, hallo, and other spellings

Hello might be derived from an older spelling variant, hullo, which the American Merriam-Webster dictionary describes as a «chiefly British variant of hello»,^[16] and which was originally used as an exclamation to call attention, an expression of surprise, or a greeting. Hullo is found in publications as early as 1803.^[17] The word hullo is still in use, with the meaning hello.^{[18][19][20][21]}

Hello is alternatively thought to come from the word hallo (1840) via hollo (also holla, holloa, halloo, halloa).^[22] The definition of hollo is to shout or an exclamation originally shouted in a hunt when the quarry was spotted:^[23][24]

If I fly, Marcius,/Halloo me like a hare.

Fowler’s has it that «hallo» is first recorded «as a shout to call attention» in 1864.^[25]
It is used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner written in 1798:

And the good south wind still blew behind,
But no sweet bird did follow,

Nor any day for food or play

Came to the mariners’ hollo!

In many Germanic languages, including German, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch and Afrikaans, «hallo» literally translates into English as «hello». In the case of Dutch, it was used as early as 1797 in a letter from Willem Bilderdijk to his sister-in-law as a remark of astonishment.^[26]

Webster’s dictionary from 1913 traces the etymology of holloa to the Old English halow and suggests: «Perhaps from ah + lo; compare Anglo Saxon ealā».

According to the American Heritage Dictionary, hallo is a modification of the obsolete holla (stop!), perhaps from Old French hola (ho, ho! + la, there, from Latin illac, that way).^[27]

The Old English verb, hǽlan (1. wv/t1b 1 to heal, cure, save; greet, salute; gehǽl! Hosanna!), may be the ultimate origin of the word.^[28] Hǽlan is likely a cognate of German Heil (meaning complete for things and healthy for beings) and other similar words of Germanic origin. Bill Bryson asserts in his book Mother Tongue that «hello» comes from Old English hál béo þu («Hale be thou», or «whole be thou», meaning a wish for good health; cf. «goodbye» which is a contraction of «God be with ye»).

«Hello, World» computer program

Students learning a new computer programming language will often begin by writing a «Hello, World!» program, which does nothing but issue the message «Hello, world» to the user (such as by displaying it on a screen). It has been used since the earliest programs, in many computer languages. This tradition was further popularised after being printed in an introductory chapter of the book The C Programming Language by Kernighan & Ritchie.^[29] The book had reused an example taken from a 1974 memo by Brian Kernighan at Bell Laboratories.^[30]

See also

• Aloha
• As-salamu alaykum
• Ciao
• Kia ora
• Namaste
• Shalom
• World Hello Day

References

External links

• Hello in more than 800 languages
• OED online entry for hollo (Subscription)
• Merriam-Webster Dictionary: hollo, hullo

It may be true that OK is the most spoken word on the planet, but hello is a good candidate for the English word that most people learn first. The word is so ubiquitous that it’s surprising how new it is: hello has only been in use for about the last 150 years of the 1000-year history of English.

An older term used for greeting or salutation is hail, which dates back to the Middle Ages but was still in use in Shakespeare’s time; he used it both as a greeting (“Hail to your grace“) and as an acclamation (“Hail, Caesar!”). Interestingly, this word is related to others that originally meant “health,” such as hale, health, and whole. Since hail was presumably sometimes shouted (from a horse, across a river, from a tower), it isn’t surprising that several variants are recorded, including hollo, hallo, and halloa. Another variant of this interjection has subsequently had a long life as a noun and verb: holler.

Hello is first recorded in the early 1800s, but was originally used to attract attention or express surprise (“Well, hello! What do we have here?”). But the true breakthrough for this now-common word was when it was employed in the service of brand-new technology: the telephone. Thomas Edison himself claimed to have initiated the use of hello upon receiving a phone call—which required people to address an unseen and unknown person. It was simpler and more efficient than some other greetings used in the early days of the telephone, such as “Do I get you?” and “Are you there?”

Hello obviously caught on, and spread along with the telephone. But had the actual inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, had his way, our greetings might be very different today. For his entire life, he preferred to answer the phone with “Ahoy.”

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, hello is an alteration of hallo, hollo, which came from Old High German “halâ, holâ, emphatic imperative of halôn, holôn to fetch, used especially in hailing a ferryman”.

What did we say before Hello?

Prior to ‘hello’ coming along the predominant greetings would have been, ‘good morning’, ‘good afternoon’, ‘good evening’, etc. The word ‘hullo’ existed, but it was used as an expression of surprise – you’ll find it a lot in Conan Doyle’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’ stories. Hello came about because of the telephone.

Who invented the word hey?

Hi and hey (according to all sources) have their origins in the Germanic languages where many modern cognates exist, usually as hei or hej.

What is hello in Old English?

The Old English greeting “Ƿes hāl” Hello! Ƿes hāl! (

When did the word hello originate?

Hello is first recorded in the early 1800s, but was originally used to attract attention or express surprise (“Well, hello! What do we have here?”). But the true breakthrough for this now-common word was when it was employed in the service of brand-new technology: the telephone.

How did they say hello in medieval times?

In medieval England, “Hail fellow” was a common greeting. By the 16th century this had morphed a bit into the more elaborate form “Hail fellow, well met.” “God save you” would also have been a conventional greeting.

Did you know facts about hello?

The inventor Thomas Edison is the reason why people use hello. He was surprised by a phone and expressed this with a misheard “hullo”. Hello was first used in print in 1833 and became popular from the 1860s. The word “ahoy” was originally intended to be the way to answer a telephone, but “hello” stuck.

For example, the word hallo demanded that the listener come to a stop or cease what he or she was doing. It was also used to spur on hunting dogs.Hello as used as an everyday greeting is recorded since at least the 1850s. Because it’s such a common word, we might have expected that greeting to be recorded earlier.

What is the meaning of hello hello?

: an expression or gesture of greeting —used interjectionally in greeting, in answering the telephone, or to express surprise hello therewaved hello.

Is it better to say hi or hey?

Hi is a word used to greet people of all ages. It is considered more formal than Hey though somewhat less formal than Hello. This is the reason why it has become acceptable among people of all classes.

Where did the term Good Morning originate?

A greeting said when parting from someone in the morning. Etymology: From Middle English gud mornynge (also as goode morne, gode morne), from Old English *gōdne morgen (“good morning”) , an ellipsis for an expression such as “I wish you a good morning”, equivalent to good +‎ morning.

How did they say hello in the 1800s?

The use of ‘hello’ was suggested by Thomas Edison. The phone’s inventor Alexander Graham Bell, however, preferred the use of the nautical terms ‘ahoy’ or ‘ahoy-hoy’ as used to hail ships.

How did the Anglo Saxons say hello?

A collection of useful phrases in Old English, the version of English that was spoken in England from about the 5th to the 11th century.
Useful phrases in Old English.

What does Hello mean in Islam?

مرحبا
1. مرحبا (Marhaba) – “Hello/Hi” How do you say “hello” in Arabic? The answer is مرحبا (Marhaba).

What does Why hello there mean?

The ‘why’ is just an exclamation when used like this, just like ‘Ah, hello there’ or ‘Oh, hello there’, it just indicates a small measure of surprise, pleasant surprise.

How did knights say hello?

Greetings and Goodbyes
Good morrow = Hello/Good morning. Well met! = Nice to see you! How met!

How did people greet each other in Elizabethan times?

You can use: Good morning Give you good morning Good morning Good morrow Good day (or morning, afternoon, evening) God give you a good day Good day (or morning, afternoon, evening) Good day; Good den Good afternoon or evening Good even; Good e’en Glad to see you! Well met!

How do you say goodbye in Old English?

Just to drive home the point, the Old English Wes hāl could be used to say ‘goodbye’ as well as ‘hello’. The equivalent would be if we were to use hi when we leave as well as when we arrive. The idea may seem odd to us, but of course the Italian ciao is used in just this way . . . to mean both ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’.

Is Hi short for hello?

Hi is defined as a standard greeting and is short for “hello.” An example of “hi” is what you say when you see someone. interjection.

What does Mr Burns say when he answers a phone?

In response to a Twitter post from the Daily Simpsons History account that revealed that Mr Burns answers the phone with “ahoy-hoy” as a nod to Alexander Graham Bell’s original suggestion for how to answer the telephone, Weinstein confirmed that that was indeed the case. “This is it!

Is hello a universal word?

This Is the World’s Most Universal Word—It’s Not “Hi”
After analyzing 31 languages derived from 16 distinct language families, linguist N.J. Enfield found that each had a word that sounds like “huh” and means the same thing.

Published October 13, 2020

We use hello several times a day to greet people or attract attention. But as prevalent as the word is, it is relatively new.

Where does hello come from?

While use of the term hello dates back earlier, it isn’t recorded with this exact spelling until the 1800s. Hello is considered a variant on a number of other similar words—like hallo, holla, and hollo—that were used to hail and shout to gain attention and recorded prior to the 1800s. 

For example, the word hallo demanded that the listener come to a stop or cease what he or she was doing. It was also used to spur on hunting dogs. Hallo comes from the Middle French holá (from ho! “ahoy” and la “there”), so you could say that when you say hello, you’re actually saying “Ahoy there!”

Amazingly, there are countless variations of these words, including: halloo, halloa, halow, hillo, holler, hollo, holloa, hollow, and hullo. Some of these may sound more familiar than others. 

Hello as used as an everyday greeting is recorded since at least the 1850s. Because it’s such a common word, we might have expected that greeting to be recorded earlier. This spelling is considered an Americanism, while hullo is a variant that is more commonly seen in Great Britain. 

A more modern use of the word hello calls into question the common sense or comprehension of the person being addressed. For example, “You’re actually going to eat that rotten peach?! Hello!”

Why do we answer the phone with hello?

When the telephone was invented, Alexander Graham Bell wanted people to use the word ahoy as a greeting. Supposedly his rival Thomas Edison suggested hello, while Bell stubbornly clung to ahoy, and well—you know which one stuck around. (Interesting trivia: hello-girls was the name for the central telephone exchange operators.)

What about other greetings?

Hi is equivalent to hello, but it is considered a little bit more informal in tone. In fact, it was recorded a lot earlier than hello. Hi developed from the Middle English hy, similar to hey and ha. Essentially, these are all terms used to call attention—they’re short and easy to say—that evolved into the greetings we use today.

As for the upbeat greeting howdy, it was first recorded as a contraction of “how do you do” in 1632. An earlier version comes from “how do ye.”

So when you greet someone, you now know that you can choose from the modern-day equivalent of “Ahoy, there!” or “How do ye!” Of course, you could dip into your arsenal of words from the 1900s and use wassup, which is short for (what else?) “What’s up?”

Every hello brings with it an inevitable goodbye. Find out why we say goodbye in the first place and the numerous other ways you can bid farewell.

What word is more ever-present in the English language as “hello?” Sure, ‘mama’ or ‘dada’ might often be an infant’s first word. But, ‘hello’ is learned quickly thereafter. You can hardly go for a stroll without uttering the word at least once. Your phone rings and it’s an unknown number. How do you answer? Simple. You tap the ‘answer’ button, and say “Hello.” 

There’s a reason why “hello” is the first word you learn when studying a new language: With it, you can introduce yourself, get someone’s attention, and signal that you’re friendly.  

Despite the word’s popularity, though, you probably don’t know where “hello” actually comes from. Has it always been a greeting? Was another word used in its place before? And why do we say ‘Hello’ when answering the phone?

Well, the last time we told you the fascinating story behind the origin of “OK”. 

Today we are back with another origin story for those of you who have been curious about the history of “Hello”!

“Hello” History!

Let’s talk a little etymology – you know, the study of words and how their meanings have changed throughout history.

This might come as a bit of a surprise, but the word “hello” (or at least using it as a greeting) is about as new as the invention of the telephone itself. In addition, the word “hello” was never intended to mean the “hi” we use it for today at all. 

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first documented use of “hello” was in 1827, less than 200 years ago. 

Back then it was used in two ways and neither of them was a friendly greeting. The first use was as an expression of surprise, as in the phrase, “Hello, what do we have here?!” The second was to get sudden attention, as in “Hello, what do you think you’re doing?!” This would be comparable to today’s “hey you!”.

What Was The Greeting People Used Prior To Hello?

If hello’s popular use only came about as recently as the telephone, what could one be expected to say as a greeting before then?

During the 17th Century in America, pilgrims would typically say “Good morrow,” “How now?” “How do you fare” or “What cheer?” in place of “Hi, how are you?” But that’s quite a disconnect from hello.

The word closest in similarity to hello that was used by people all the way from the Middle Ages through Shakespeare’s time was “hail.” As in, ‘Hail, Caesar!’ This is traced to the Old Norse word, heill, which comes from the word’s meaning “health.”

Health or holiness-either seems like something quite friendly to wish upon someone you are greeting, right?

But the big question remains. But why do we say hello when answering the phone?

Common Myths Around Why We Say ‘Hello’ On Phone

First, let’s rid ourselves of myths we may have picked up over the internet. Rumor has it that the standard greeting came about because it was the name of Alexander Graham Bell’s girlfriend at the time of patenting the invention. The story goes that she later married the inventor. Would this mean that his wife’s proper name was Hello Bell? Surely not!

Others suggest that it was a girlfriend that Alexander Graham Bell was honouring when choosing the go-to phrase for answering a call on the telephone. This girlfriend is said to have been named Margaret Hello. Supposedly, a declaration of love is why we say hello when answering the phone.

There is no merit whatsoever to this silly story, as interesting as it may sound. This rumour isn’t based on any historical facts. Someone just made it up!

What Was Said During The First Phone Call?

If you’re wondering what was said as a greeting to the first person that Alexander Graham Bell called, you may be a bit disappointed. Because, in fact, there was no need for a greeting. There wasn’t a ring. The first call was rather brief:

“Mister Watson, come here – I want you.”

So Why Do We Say Hello When Answering The Phone?

Hello began catching on as a greeting through the 19th century, but it wasn’t until the telephone was invented that its future was sealed. 

Though we credit Alexander Graham Bell as the inventor of the telephone (whether or not he was, is still up for debate), a different inventor is credited with coining the typical phone greeting. Who? Thomas Edison!

You see, the phone wasn’t intended to be a device that rang. It was expected to be a line of business communication between two parties that was left as an open line. If the caller wanted the person on the other end of the line to know they would like to speak, some sort of greeting would need to occur. Graham Bell had suggested an older maritime greeting: ‘Ahoy!’ In fact, he felt so strongly about “ahoy” that he used it for the rest of his life.

However, his rival, Thomas Edison thought the better word was “Hello” and he urged the people who used his phone to say “hello” when answering. 

When the first telephone book was printed in New Haven, Connecticut, USA in 1878, it included a “how to” section as well as tips on phone etiquette. It informed the readers that one should initiate a telephone conversation with “a firm and cheery ‘hulloa.’” By 1880 Edison’s preferred hello had won out.

The Future Of Hello

Will the legacy of using “hello” as the most-used greeting continue in (and perhaps after) the age of cellphones? In a generation whose most oft-used text greeting is the more casual “hey,” or the more fashion-forward “Whassup”, will “hello” be as lost to the archives as “ahoy”? Maybe not. 

For programmers beginning to learn computer languages, the first thing they use is a simple “Hello, world!” program. It is simply a display device being used to convey the forthright message, “Hello, world!” onto the computer screen. This has been a programming protocol since at least 1972. With the advent of wireless landlines, then cell phones, and then smartphones, many popular slang greetings have come and gone. “Hello” is a classic, if not universal, way in which to greet the world, and we hope it stays.

So the next time someone asks you about the origin of “hello,” you can explain to them that it goes all the way back to Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison (and that “ahoy” almost ended up being the de facto greeting). 

We hope you enjoyed learning something new today. Tell us which part of this Origin Story did you find most fascinating? What other origin stories would you like to read about? Tell us in the comments below.

Hello in different languages:

There are thousands of languages being spoken by people around the word and saying “Hello” is one of the most basic and important form of greeting someone in each of them. Here is how you say “Hello” in ten different languages. Who knows, it might come in handy with you are touring the world.

Also read, about How did telephones go from wired to wireless