Greeting (also called accosting) is a way for human beings (as well as other members of the animal kingdom) to intentionally communicate awareness of each other's presence, to show attention to, and/or to affirm or suggest a type of relationship or social status between individuals or groups of people coming in contact with each other. As with many forms of communication, greeting habits are highly culture- and situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status and relationship; the [phenomenon] as such exists in all known human cultures, though. Greetings can be expressed both audibly and physically, and often involve a combination of the two. This topic excludes military and ceremonial salutes but includes rituals other than gestures.
Greetings are often, but not always, used just prior to a conversation.
Some epochs and cultures have had very elaborate greeting rituals, e.g., greeting of a king.
Secret societies have clandestine greeting rituals that allow members to recognize common membership.
Spoken (English)
Spoken greetings are customary or ritualised words or phrases used to introduce oneself or to greet someone. In English, some common verbal greetings are:
- "Hello" — the most common verbal greeting in English-speaking countries, and related to "Hullo" (UK English, now old-fashioned) and "Hallo". Suitable for formal and informal usage.
- "Hi", related to "Hiya", both being less formal for 'hello' but very widely used nowadays. It is classified in dictionaries as a sentence substitute. "Hi" is relatively new, having become popular in the 1920s in the USA and then spread throughout English-speaking populations around the world, and even into other languages.
- "Hey", has become fairly commonplace as a greeting in informal USA English, but is considered impolite in UK English to use as a greeting (Cambridge English dictionary says "used as a way of attracting someone's attention, sometimes in a way which is not very polite"; its standard usage in the UK is to express a mixture of surprise and displeasure/indignation/protest/reprimand, or else to shout (specifically not at standard spoken volume) at someone from afar prior to greeting them or else warning them about danger. According to the Cambridge English and Collins English dictionaries "hey" is not used as a greeting, but an interjection used to express surprise (sometimes with indignation or displeasure, e.g. "Hey, stop that!" or "Hey, stop making a noise! or "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"), inquiry (as a prelude, thus catching attention, e.g. "Hey, have you seen this?"), interest (especially sudden, e.g. "Hey, what's going on?!"), and to call attention from a distance (e.g. across the street, or when someone's back is turned - "Hey, didn't see you there!" or "Hey, over here!"). It is also used in popular song lyrics, and in idiomatic phrases such as 'Hey presto!' 'Hey Ho!' and 'What's-a matter you? Hey!...Ah, shaddap-a you face!'.
- "Good morning", "Good afternoon", "Good evening" — More formal verbal greetings used at the appropriate time of day. Note that the similar "Good night" and "Good day" are more commonly used as phrases of parting rather than greeting. These are often abbreviated by those wishing to be less formal, e.g. amongst friends or family, to 'Morning!', 'Afternoon!', 'Night!' or 'G'night!'
- "How do you do?", along with variations such as "How are ya?" (Ireland) and "Hiya"
- "Howdy" — Informal greeting. Derived from "How do you do," it is common in the rural regions of the United States. This is also the official greeting of the Texas A&M Aggies of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas.
- "What's up?", "Whassup", "Sup?", "How's it going?", "Yo", and "What's happenin?" — United States. "How's tricks?" and "How's it going?" are popular in UK English, but note that 'What's up?' in UK English means 'What's wrong?' and is therefore not a greeting.
Written (English)
By convention, formal letters in English commence with the salutation "Dear" followed by the name or title of the recipient. If the name or title of the recipient is unknown, then it is conventional to write "Dear Sir," or "Dear Madam," or where the sex of the recipient is also unknown, "Dear Sir/Madam," or "Dear Sir or Madam" is used. In other forms of written communication (such as fax or email), or in informal messages the salutation is often absent or replaced with a personal variant.
Spoken (Other than English)
Translations of the word "welcome" are often shown in many places frequented by foreigners or tourists, such as airports and hotels, to welcome people of all different nationalities.
- Afrikaans: "Hallo" (Hello), "Goeiedag" (Good day), "Goeiemôre" (Good morning), "Goeiemiddag" (Good afternoon), ""Goeienaand" (Good evening) [1]
- Albanian: "tungjatjeta" (hello), "allo" (hello), "Ju falem nderit" (Thank you), "faleminderit shumë" (Thank you [very much]), "Mirë upafshim" (Good bye), Si jeni? (How are you?), "Mirëmëngjes" (Good morning), "Mirëdita" (Good afternoon), "Mirëmbrëma" (Good evening), "Po" (Yes)
- Amharic language: "tenestalling" (hello), "endemin eh/esh" (how are you? - male/female)
- Arabic: "As-salaam Alaikum" (Peace unto you), "Marhaba" (Marhaban in Modern Standard Arabic), "Sabah El-Kheir" (Good morning), "Massa'a El-Kheir" (Good evening)
- Aramaic: "Shlama lekhon" (Peace unto you), the response is "p-shena wo beshlama", "Dekhi-wot" (How are you?) ,"Sapra breekha" (Good morning), "ramsha breekha" (Good evening)
- Armenian: "Barev" (Hello), "Bari louys" (Good morning), "Bari or" (Good afternoon), "Bari yereko" (Good evening)
- Bangla (Bengali): "Nomoskar" (Hi), "Kemon achen" (How are you), "Ki khobor" (Whats up)
- Bulgarian: "Здравей" (Hello, pron. Zdravèi), "Здрасти" (Hi, pron. Zdràsti), "Добро утро" (Good Morning, pron. Dobrò ùtro), "Добър ден" (Good Afternoon, pron. Dòbar den), "Добър вечер" (Good Evening, pron. Dòbar Vècher), "Довиждане" (Goodbye, pron. Dovìzhdane), "Лека нощ" (Good night, pron. Lèka nòsht)
- Catalan: "Hola!" (Hello), "Salut!"; "Bon dia" (Good morning), "Bona tarda/Bona vesprada" (Good afternoon), "Bona nit" (Good evening and Good night)
- Chichewa: "Takulandilani" (Welcome)
- Chinese (Cantonese): "Jo San" (早晨)("Good morning"), "Sik Jo Fan Mei" (食咗飯未) (literally, have you eaten yet ? ), "Ha Lo" (哈佬) ("Hello")
- Chinese (Mandarin): "Ni Hao"(你好) (Ni is you, Hao is good),"Zao An"（早安）or "Zao Shang Hao"(早上好)("Good Morning"),"Wan An"(晚安)("Good night")
- Czech: "Ahoj" or "Čau" (informal, Hello or Goodbye), "Dobrý den" (Good day) = universal formal greeting
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- Eventually: "Dobré ráno" (Good morning), "Dobré odpoledne" (Good afternoon) "Dobrý večer" (Good evening), "Dobrou noc" (Good night)
- Croatian: "Bok" or "Bog" (informal, Hello or Goodbye), "Dobar dan" (Good day) = universal formal greeting
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- Eventually: "Dobro jutro" (Good morning), "Dobra večer" (Good evening), "Laku noć" (Good night)
- Danish: "Hej" (informal), "Goddag" (God-dag, means good day), "God morgen"(Good morning), "God eftermiddag", (Good midday/afternoon), "God aften" Good evening), "Hallo" (mostly used on the telephone)
- Dutch: "Hoi", "Hé" (informal), "Hallo" (standard), "goedemorgen" (good morning), "goedemiddag" (goede+middag, lit.good midday, good afternoon), "goedenavond" (goede+avond, good evening), "gegroet" (formal and archaic, literally "begret"/"greeted").
- Fiji: "Bula" (literally "Life," or "Health"); heard constantly
- Finnish: "Hei" (Hello), "Huomenta" (Good morning), "Päivää" (Good day), "Iltaa" (Good evening), "Hyvää yötä" (Good night)
- French: "Bon jour" (Hello; lit. Good Day; and Good morning, Good afternoon), "Salut" (Hello and Goodbye, informal), "Bon soir" (Good evening)
- German: "Hei/Hai" (cognate with Hey), "Hallo" (cognate with Hello), "Gute(n) Morgen" (Good Morning), "Gute(n) Mittag"/ (Good Midday/), "Gute(n) Abend" (Good Evening), Gute(n) Nacht (Good Night) "Wie geht's?" (contraction of "Wie gehts es", literally How goes it?, therefore similar to What's going on?, How are things going?), or "Wie läuft es?", "Grüß Gott" (lit. Greet God, similar to English Goodbye and God be with you, from Middle English "Godbwye which is itself a corruption of the phrase God be with ye)
- Greek: "Γεια" ("Gheia", pron. "ya", "hello" and "goodbye", literally "Health", quite informal), "Χαίρετε", ("Chairete", pron. "herete", same as "Gheia" but more formal, literally "Cheerly"/"May you be joyful"), "Καλημέρα" (pron. "kalimera", "Good morning" and "Good day"), "Καλησπέρα" (pron. "kalispera", "Good evening"), "Καληνύχτα" (pron. "kalinikhta", "good night").
- Gujarati : "Khem Cho" (How are you?)
- Hawaiian: "Aloha" (affection, love, peace, compassion, mercy, goodbye, and hello)
- Hebrew: "Shalom" "שלום" (Peace) or "Shalom Aleichem" "שלום עליכם" (Peace unto you; the response is Aleichem Shalom "unto you, peace"); less formal: "Ma Nishma" "מה נשמע" or "Ma HaInyanim" "מה העיניינים" (What's new or How are you?)
- Hindi: "Namaste" (lit., salutations) "Namaskaram" (lit., "salutations"), "Pranaam" (lit., "salutations")
- Hungarian: "Szia" (Very informal, used between friends and family), "Jó napot" (Good day), Jó napot kivánok (I wish you good day, a bit more complete than jó napot), "Üdvözlünk" (A commonly used way of saying 'welcome')"Csókolom" (only used by the young when addressing elders. Signifies a sign of respect, but is becoming less popular), "Kezét csókolom" (I kiss your hand, a polite greeting used by men when addressing women), "Szevasz" or "Szervusz" (a form of Servus, it is a casual greeting and a good-bye) "Hello" (Hello!, this greeting is becoming more popular but most often it is actually used to say good-bye)
- Icelandic: "Hæ" (Hi), "Bæ" (Bye), "Góðan dag" (Good day), "Gott kvöld" (good ewening), "Góða nótt" (Good Night) (a not very common greeting unless people are going to go to sleep). "Bless" (Goodbye) a shortening of Blessaður (which standing alone is used as a welcome greeting or a goodbye), which means Blessed, often used with the word "vertu" (Be) first (though only when the blessing is used as a goodbye), "Vertu sæll" (Be happy) is used as a goodbye, but standing alone "sæll" and in the combination "komdu sæll" (come happy ) it is used as a greeting. Sometimes these two are combined into "komdu sæll og blessaður" (Come happy and blessed) and "vertu sæll og blessaður" (Be happy and blessed) as a greeting and a goodbye respectedly. When the words are interchanged "Blessaður og sæll" (blessed and happy) they are used as a greeting. Most of the greetings are often followed with the question, "hvað segir þú?" (what do you say) or "hvernig hefurðu það?" (how do you have it? or how are you?) (the mostly expected answer is "fínt" or "bara fínt" which means fine or just fine although it is also common to start telling something of yourself) or the more litteral question "hvað er að frétta?" (what is new? or what is in news of you?). The adjective "jæja" (well) comes into the greeting and goodbye process frequently.
- Indonesian: "Apa Kabar" (How are you?), "Selamat Pagi" (Good Morning), "Selamat Siang" (Good day), "Selamat Malam" (Good Night)
- Irish Gaelic: "Dia dhuit" (God to you / God be with you), "Dia is Muire dhuit" (God and Mary to you / God and Mary be with you this the usual response to 'Dia dhuit'.), "Conas ata tu" (How are you?)
- Islamic: "Assalamu alaikum" or "Salamu Alaikum" (Peace be upon you); the response is "Wa'laikum As'salaam"
- Italian: "Ciao" (Hi and Goodbye) or "Salve" (Hello). "Buon giorno" (Good morning), "Buona sera" (Good evening], "Buona notte" (Good night]
- Japanese: "Ohayō gozaimasu" (おはようございます, Good morning?) (often abbreviated to just "Ohayō" (おはよう/おはよう, "Ohayō"?)), "Konban wa" (こんばんは, Good evening?), "Konnichi wa" (こんにちは, Hello/Good day?), "Moshi moshi" (もしもし, Hello (on the phone)?)
- Kannada: Language of Karnataka(State)- India: "Namaskara" / "Namaste", "Hegiddira?"("How are you?"), "Enu Samachara" ("What's up?"), "Belagina Vandanegalu"("Good Morning")
- Khmer: "chomribsur" (hello), "sursdei" (how are you?), leahaey (bye, see you next time)
- Korean: "An-nyeong haseyo" (Used for 'hello')(안녕하세요? Are you in peace?) "Nae-il-popshida" (See you tommorow) "Pan-gap-sumn-ida" (Nice to Meet you)
- Kurdish Language Sorani Kurdistan: "Salam" (hello), "choni?" (How are you?) "Kouahafez" (good bye) (litterly means God is wise)
- Lao: "Sa Bai Dee?" (How are you?)
- Latvian: "Sveiks" (Hello), "Labdien" (Good day, Good afternoon), "Labrīt" (Good morning), "Labvakar" (Good evening)
- Lithuanian: "Labas", "Sveikas" (Hello), "Laba diena" (Good day, Good afternoon), "Labas rytas" (Good morning), "Labas vakaras" (Good evening)
- Lojban: "coi" (Hello), "coi rodo" (hello everybody)
- Macedonian: "Здраво" (Hello, pron. Zdravо), "Добро утро" (Good Morning, pron. Dobro utro), "Добар ден" (Good Afternoon, pron. Dоbar den), "Добра вечер" (Good Evening, pron. Dobra Vecher), "Довидување" (Goodbye, pron. Doviduvanje), "Лека ноќ" (Good night, pron. Leka nok)
- Malayalam: "Namaskaram" (Syllables: Na-mas-ka-ram), 'Enthundu Vishesham"("How are you?")
- Malaysian: "Apa khabar" ("How are you?") "Selamat Datang" ("Welcome")
- Maltese: Formal greetings - "L-għodwa t-tajba" (Good morning); "Merħba" (Welcome); "Is-serata t-tajba" (Good evening); "Il-lejl it-tajjeb" (Good night); "Saħħa" (Goodbye - literally, Good health). Informal greetings - "Bonġu!" (Good day); "Ċaw"(see Ciao) or "Ħello" (Hello); "Hawn [name], kif int?" (Hey [name], how are you? - used among friends, colleagues and relatives); "Ċaw" or "Ċaw-ċaw" ('Bye). Less frequently used/archaic - "Sliem għalik", or "is-sliem" (Peace be with you or Peace, and its response: "lilhek ukoll" And with you); "Benedizzjoni, [mamà/papà/zi]" - literally, benedict/goodtalk/goodspeak me/Bless me, [mother/father/aunt/uncle], and its response: "Kun imbierek" / "Kun imbierka" (Blessings - usually said by an elderly person to his or her child, nephew or niece, or by a priest to a parishioner.
- Mandarin: "Ni hao ma?" (How are you?) or simply "Ni hao"
- Marathi: "Namaskar" (Hello!)
- Māori: "Kia ora" (Good health)
- Nez Perce: Táʔc Méeywi ‘Good Morning’; Táʔc Haláχp ‘Good Afternoon’; Táʔc Kuléewit ‘Good Evening’
- Norwegian: "Hallo" (Hello), "Hei" (Hi/Bye; the latter particularly in telephone conversations), "God morgen" (Good morning, "Morn" is more informal abbreviation), "God dag"(Good Day), "God kveld" (Good evening)
- Persian: "درود" (dorood, benediction/good speech/good speaking = Hello); "سلام" (salām, peace = Hello cognate with shalom); "بدرود" (bedorood = bye);
- Polish: "Cześć" (help·info) (Hi / Bye), "Dzień dobry" (help·info) (Good morning / Good day), "Jak się masz?" (help·info) (How goes you? / How are things? / What's up?)
- Portuguese: "Olá" (Hello), "Oi" (Hi), "Bom dia" (Good Morning/Good Day), "Boa tarde" (Good Afternoon), "Boa noite" (Good night)
- Punjabi greeting of Sikhism: "Sat Sri Akal" (He/She Be Blessed Who says Truth is God)
- Romani language: "Sar san?" (How are you?), "Sar dživen?" (How do you live?), "So keren?" (What are you doing?)
- Romanian language: "Salut" (Hello), "Ce mai faci ?" (How are you?), "Alo" (Hello when talking on the phone), "Bună ziua" (Good day), "Noapte bună" (Good night), "Bună seara" (Good evening), "Bună dimineaṭa" (Good morning), "La revedere" (Good bye)
- Russian: "Здравствуйте", "Здравствуй" (Hello, pron. Zdràstvuite, Zdràstvui), "Привет" (Hi, pron. Privèt), "Доброе утро" (Good Morning, pron. Dòbrае ùtro), "Добрый день" (Good Afternoon, pron. Dоbrài den), "Добрый вечер" (Good Evening, pron. Dоbrài Vècher), "До свидания" (Goodbye, pron. Do svidàniya), "пока" (Goodbye [informal], pron. pa-ka), "Спокойной ночи" (Good night, pron. Spakòinai nòchi)
- Scottish Gaelic: "Ciamar a tha thu?" (How are you?) "Dè do chor?" (informal How're you doing?)
- Serbian: "Dobro jutro" (Good morning), "Dobar dan" (Good day), "Dobro veče" (Good evening), "Doviđenja" (Goodbye), "Zdravo!" (Hi! (be well)), "Ćao!" (informal Hi!, from Italian Ciao), "Š'a ima?" (informal, Whassup?)
- Slovak language: "Ahoj/Čau" (hello/bye, see ahoy, [[Ciao]),) "Ako sa máš?" (How goes you?) "Dobré ráno!" (Good morning) "Dobrý deň!" (Good day) "Dobrý večer!" ("Good evening") "Dobrú noc!" ("Good night!")
- Spanish: "Hola" (cognate with Hello), "Buenos Días" or "Buen Día" but "Buenas Tardes" in the late afternoon or later. Also said as "Buenas". "Buenas noches" ("Good evening" and "Good night").
- Sinhala: "Ayubowan" (formal greeting - May you live long), or "Kohomada" (very informal - How are you?)
- Swedish: "Hej/Hallo/Hejlo" (hey, Hello), "Tja/Tjena" (Hey), "Läget?" (What's up?), "Va' händer?" (What's up?), "Hur mår du?" (How are you?"), "Görs?" (What's happenin?), "God morgon" (Good morning), "God middag" (Good afternoon), "God dag" (Good day), "God kväll"/"God afton" (Good evening), "God natt" (Good night), "Ses/Hörs/Höres" (See ya), "Ha det bra" (Take care)
- Swiss German: "Grüezi" (Hello/ lit. Greet, traditional Swiss, formal, directed at one individual), "Grüezi mitenand" (Hello, traditional Swiss, formal, directed at multiple persons), "Hoi (mitenand/zaeme)" (Hi/Hello, traditional Swiss, informal, directed at one (multiple) person(s)), "Sali", "Salutti", "Saletti" (informal, from French Salut), "Ciao zaeme" (from Italian Ciao), "Hey", "Ey", "Was lauft?", "Wie gohts?" (slang)
- Tagalog: "Hoy" (Hey), "Ay" (Oh!) pronounced like "I", "'Musta?"(Informal) or "Kamusta ka?" (How are you?), "Mabuti" (Fine), "Mabuhay!" (Salutations)means "life", "Magandang Umaga" (Good Morning), "Magandang Hapon" (Good Afternoon), "Magandang Gabi" (Good Evening/Good Night), "Kababayan" (Formal) or "Kabayan" (Informal) means "My Fellow Country Man"
- Tamil: Language of the state of Tamil Nadu in India: "Vanakkum" (Syllables: Va-nak-kum)
- Telugu: "Namaskaramu" / "Namaste", "Ela unnavu?"("How are you?"), "Enti Sangatulu" ("What's up?")
- Thai: "สวัสดีครับ/สวัสดีค่ะ" (Sawasdee Krup/Sawasdee Ka) (male/female)
- Tibetan: "Tashi Delek" (May everything be well)
- Turkish: "Merhaba" (Hi), "Günaydın" (Good morning), "İyi günler" (Good day), "İyi akşamlar" (Good evening), "Nasılsınız?" (How are you?, formal), "Nasılsın?" (How are you?, informal), "Ne var ne yok?" (What's up?, informal), "Alo" (Hello, a greeting used primarily on the telephone)
- Ukrainian language: "Привіт!" (Hi), "Вітаю!" (Hello), "Як справи?" (How are you doing?), "Добрий ранок"/"Доброго ранку"(Good morning), "Добрий день"/"День добрий"/"Доброго дня" (Good day), "Добрий вечір"/"Доброго вечора"/"Вечір добрий" (Good evening)
- Urdu: 'Adab arz hai' or 'Khush Amdid'
- Uzbek: "Salom" (Hello/Hi), "Assalomu alaykum" (Peace unto you), "Xayrli tong" (Good morning), "Xayrli kun" (Good afternoon), "Xayrli kech" (Good evening)
- Vietnam: "Xin chào" (Hello), "Anh/Chị có khỏe không" (How are you; male/female)
- Yoruba language: "Ẹ kú àárọ" (Good morning), Ẹ kú alẹ́ (Good evening)
Gestures
- See also: Gesture
See also
