Synonyms for hello
- greetings
- hi
- howdy
- welcome
- bonjour
- buenas noches
- buenos dias
- good day
- good morning
- hey
- hi-ya
- how are you
- how goes it
- howdy-do
- shalom
- what's happening
- what's up
Antonyms for hello
EXAMPLES FROM THE WEB FOR HELLO
Red he sees my pard passing a saloon, and he says, 'Hello, where did you come from?
And then, catching sight of Kirkwood's countenance: "Why, hello, Kirkwood!"
"Hello yourself and see how you like it," the mascot of the Ravens called down.
"Hello, old man," he cried, shaking Trenton warmly by the hand.
Why couldn't he ask me how I felt or pull my ear and say "Hello, Puss?"
I fancy I rather overwhelmed him by exclaiming, "Hello, Sour-dough!"
Hello, Nelson, where are you going at this hour of the night?
Yet her tone was calm enough as she uttered the stereotyped "Hello."
By the way, you must come down to the office and say hello to her when you get the time.
They have no way of closing the channel, or they would do so, and it remains–––Hello!
WORD ORIGIN
1883, alteration of hallo, itself an alteration of holla, hollo, a shout to attract attention, which seems to go back to at least c.1400. Perhaps from holla! "stop, cease." OED cites Old High German hala, hola, emphatic imperative of halon, holon "to fetch," "used especially in hailing a ferryman." Fowler lists halloo, hallo, halloa, halloo, hello, hillo, hilloa, holla, holler, hollo, holloa, hollow, hullo, and writes, "The multiplicity of forms is bewildering ...." Popularity as a greeting coincides with use of the telephone, where it won out over Alexander Graham Bell's suggestion, ahoy. Central telephone exchange operators were known as hello-girls (1889).