# good evening

idiom · CEFR A1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/good-evening
Updated: 2026-06-07

## Meaning

A polite greeting you use when you meet someone in the evening.

## Examples

- Good evening, how are you today?
- When the host opened the door, he smiled and said, good evening to all his guests.
- As the sun dipped below the horizon, the shopkeeper offered a polite good evening to the last customer leaving his store.

## Origin

From the ellipsis of a longer formal salutation, likely *I wish you a good evening*, used upon meeting or departing. The full phrase appears in late Middle English, though the contracted greeting has functioned as a standalone social convention for several centuries.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.