hello
- 01 A1 Beginner
interj.the word you use to start a conversation on the telephone.
interj.the standard greeting used to initiate a telephonic exchange or to check if a listener is still connected.
Simple“Hello? Is anyone there? I think the signal is very weak.”
In context“She answered the phone with a professional hello, waitng for the caller to identify themselves before continuing.”
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
interj.used when you find something strange or surprising.
interj.an exclamation used to express sudden surprise, discovery, or puzzlement at an unexpected situation.
Simple“Hello, what's this? I didn't leave the front door open.”
In context“Hello, this is strange; the files I saved this morning seem to have vanished from the server.”
Teacher's tipThis usage is specifically British and can sound slightly old-fashioned or like a character in a detective novel.
- 03 A2 Elementary
n.the act of saying 'hello' to someone.
n.the utterance of the word 'hello' as a discrete act of greeting.
Simple“She gave me a quick hello as she walked past my desk.”
In context“The host did not even offer a simple hello before asking the visitors to remove their shoes.”
- 04 C1 Advanced
v.to say 'hello' to a person.
v.to greet a person by using the word 'hello'.
Simple“He helloed me from across the street, but I couldn't hear him clearly.”
In context“They helloed each other briefly in the hallway before rushing off to their respective meetings.”
UsageThe verb form is much less common than the interjection or noun forms.
Hello (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 nowadays. Thus, equivalent to a compound of hey and lo. Used when drawing attention to yourself. Possibly influenced by Old Saxon halo!, imperative of halōn (“to call, fetch”), used in hailing a ferryman, akin to Old High German hala, hola!, imperative forms of halōn, holōn (“to fetch”). More at hallo. OED and Merriam-Webster also suggested that it is a variant of holla, a variant of holloo. Further beyond, the origin remains uncertain. OED and Merriam-Webster suggested that it has a connection between hallow (“to shout, to cry out loud”), which came from Old French holloer, which, according to Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, is from Old Saxon halōn.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.