Hello in Different Languages
Discover 'Hello' in 134 Languages: Dive into Translations, Hear Pronunciations, and Uncover Cultural Insights.
Hello
Afrikaans hallo | ||
Albanian përshëndetje | ||
Amharic ሀሎ | ||
Arabic مرحبا | ||
Armenian բարեւ | ||
Assamese নমস্কাৰ | ||
Aymara kamisaki | ||
Azerbaijani salam | ||
Bambara aw ni baara | ||
Basque kaixo | ||
Belarusian добры дзень | ||
Bengali হ্যালো | ||
Bhojpuri प्रणाम | ||
Bosnian zdravo | ||
Bulgarian здравейте | ||
Catalan hola | ||
Cebuano kumusta | ||
Chinese (Simplified) 你好 | ||
Chinese (Traditional) 你好 | ||
Corsican bonghjornu | ||
Croatian zdravo | ||
Czech ahoj | ||
Danish hej | ||
Dhivehi އައްސަލާމް ޢަލައިކުމް | ||
Dogri नमस्कार | ||
Dutch hallo | ||
English hello | ||
Esperanto saluton | ||
Estonian tere | ||
Ewe hello | ||
Filipino (Tagalog) kamusta | ||
Finnish hei | ||
French bonjour | ||
Frisian hoi | ||
Galician ola | ||
Georgian გამარჯობა | ||
German hallo | ||
Greek χαίρετε | ||
Guarani mba'éichapa | ||
Gujarati નમસ્તે | ||
Haitian Creole bonjou | ||
Hausa sannu | ||
Hawaiian aloha | ||
Hebrew שלום | ||
Hindi नमस्ते | ||
Hmong nyob zoo | ||
Hungarian helló | ||
Icelandic halló | ||
Igbo nnọọ | ||
Ilocano hello | ||
Indonesian halo | ||
Irish dia dhuit | ||
Italian ciao | ||
Japanese こんにちは | ||
Javanese halo | ||
Kannada ಹಲೋ | ||
Kazakh сәлеметсіз бе | ||
Khmer សួស្តី | ||
Kinyarwanda muraho | ||
Konkani हॅलो | ||
Korean 여보세요 | ||
Krio adu | ||
Kurdish slav | ||
Kurdish (Sorani) سڵاو | ||
Kyrgyz салам | ||
Lao ສະບາຍດີ | ||
Latin salve | ||
Latvian sveiki | ||
Lingala mbote | ||
Lithuanian sveiki | ||
Luganda nkulamusizza | ||
Luxembourgish hallo | ||
Macedonian здраво | ||
Maithili नमस्कार | ||
Malagasy salama | ||
Malay hello | ||
Malayalam ഹലോ | ||
Maltese bongu | ||
Maori tena koutou | ||
Marathi नमस्कार | ||
Meiteilon (Manipuri) ꯍꯦꯜꯂꯣ | ||
Mizo chibai | ||
Mongolian сайн уу | ||
Myanmar (Burmese) ဟယ်လို | ||
Nepali नमस्कार | ||
Norwegian hallo | ||
Nyanja (Chichewa) moni | ||
Odia (Oriya) ନମସ୍କାର | ||
Oromo akkam | ||
Pashto سلام | ||
Persian سلام | ||
Polish dzień dobry | ||
Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) olá | ||
Punjabi ਸਤ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਅਕਾਲ | ||
Quechua allinllachu | ||
Romanian salut | ||
Russian здравствуйте | ||
Samoan talofa | ||
Sanskrit नमस्ते | ||
Scots Gaelic halò | ||
Sepedi thobela | ||
Serbian здраво | ||
Sesotho lumela | ||
Shona mhoro | ||
Sindhi سلام | ||
Sinhala (Sinhalese) හෙලෝ | ||
Slovak ahoj | ||
Slovenian zdravo | ||
Somali hello | ||
Spanish hola | ||
Sundanese halo | ||
Swahili hello | ||
Swedish hallå | ||
Tagalog (Filipino) kamusta | ||
Tajik салом | ||
Tamil வணக்கம் | ||
Tatar сәлам | ||
Telugu హలో | ||
Thai สวัสดี | ||
Tigrinya ሰላም | ||
Tsonga avuxeni | ||
Turkish merhaba | ||
Turkmen salam | ||
Twi (Akan) hɛlo | ||
Ukrainian здрастуйте | ||
Urdu ہیلو | ||
Uyghur ياخشىمۇسىز | ||
Uzbek salom | ||
Vietnamese xin chào | ||
Welsh helo | ||
Xhosa mholweni | ||
Yiddish העלא | ||
Yoruba pẹlẹ o | ||
Zulu sawubona |
Etymology & Notes
| Language | Etymology / Notes |
|---|---|
| Afrikaans | Afrikaans "hallo" has an alternate meaning of "to hallucinate" and is derived from Dutch "halo" meaning "halo around the sun or moon" |
| Albanian | The Albanian word "Përshëndetje" is derived from the verb "përshëndes" which means "to greet". It can also be used as a noun meaning "salutation". Its origin is related to words like the Persian "pershendet". |
| Amharic | The word derives from the Ge'ez word "haleluya," which means "praise you" or "glory to you." |
| Arabic | The word "مرحبا" is derived from the verb "رحب" (to be spacious) and carries connotations of welcome and hospitality. |
| Armenian | Բարեւ can also be used as a noun meaning 'greeting' or 'welcome' in Armenian. |
| Azerbaijani | 'Salam' is the Arabic word for 'peace', and is also used as a greeting in many other languages, including Azerbaijani. |
| Basque | Kaixo, meaning "hello" in Basque, is derived from the Latin "quaeso", which means "I beg you" or "I ask you". |
| Belarusian | The Belarusian word "добры дзень" also means "good day" or "good afternoon". |
| Bengali | "হ্যালো" is a respelling of the English word "hello", which can also mean "to heal" in Bengali |
| Bosnian | The word zdravo shares the same Slavic root as "health," and is used not only as a greeting but also as an expression of good health. |
| Bulgarian | The word "Здравейте" in Bulgarian literally translates to "to health," a greeting that wishes good health to the recipient. |
| Catalan | In Catalan, "Hola" also means "Stop" when used as a nautical command in sailing. |
| Cebuano | The Cebuano word 'kumusta' is derived from the Spanish word 'cómo está,' meaning 'how are you?' |
| Chinese (Simplified) | The first character, '你' (nǐ), is a second-person singular pronoun, and the second character, '好' (hǎo), means 'good' or 'well'. |
| Chinese (Traditional) | "您好" can also be translated as "how do you do?", "good morning/afternoon/evening" and "what do you want?". |
| Corsican | The word "Bonghjornu" is composed of "Bongiorno" (good morning in Italian) and "Ghjorni" (day in Corsican), and can also be used as a general greeting throughout the day. |
| Croatian | "Zdravo" originated from the Proto-Slavic word "zdravъ" meaning "healthy" or "well-being". |
| Czech | "Ahoj" derives from the German word "ahoi," which is used by sailors greeting each other. |
| Danish | The word "hej" can also be used as an interjection to express surprise, or to greet someone in an informal way. |
| Dutch | The Dutch word "hallo" originally meant "clear and resonant" and was also used to describe a certain type of bell |
| Esperanto | Saluton literally means "small salvation" or "protection", and also signifies "thank you" when someone sneezes or coughs. |
| Estonian | Tere is a cognate of the Finnish word 'terve', likely deriving from the Proto-Finno-Ugric term *tere- 'healthy'. |
| Finnish | The word "hei" is derived from the Proto-Finnic word "hej", which originally meant "come here." |
| French | The word 'bonjour' is composed of two terms: 'bon' meaning 'good' and 'jour' meaning 'day'. |
| Frisian | Hoi in Frisian can also mean 'there' or 'goodbye'. |
| Galician | In Portuguese, the cognate 'olá' comes from the Arabic 'ma'a as-salāmah' meaning 'peace be with you'. |
| German | The German word "Hallo" is derived from the Middle High German phrase "hal hôch" meaning "hold high". |
| Greek | In ancient Greek, "Χαίρετε" could also be used as a farewell as it derives from the verb χαίρω (`chairō`), 'rejoice' or 'welcome'. |
| Gujarati | "નમસ્તે" is derived from the Sanskrit word "नमस्" (namas), meaning "to bow" or "to pay homage", and is used as a salutation to show respect and humility to the person being greeted. |
| Haitian Creole | In Haitian Creole, "bonjou" also means "good day" and is derived from the French phrase "bonjour." |
| Hausa | The word "sannu" in Hausa can also mean "good morning" or "good afternoon", depending on the time of day. |
| Hawaiian | The Hawaiian word "aloha" means not just "hello", but also "goodbye", "love", and "compassion." |
| Hebrew | "Shalom" is derived from the Hebrew word "shalom," which can also mean "peace" or "well-being." |
| Hindi | The word नमस्ते originates from Sanskrit and literally means “bowing to you.” |
| Hmong | The term "nyob zoo" also refers to a state of well-being or contentment in Hmong culture. |
| Hungarian | Helló means "hear" in Hungarian, like English "hello" derives from "hark" and German "hallo" from "hören" (hear). |
| Icelandic | Icelandic "Halló" is derived from the Old Norse "heyla" meaning "hear now", |
| Igbo | The Igbo word "Nnọọ" also conveys meanings of "good morning" and "good afternoon" |
| Indonesian | The word "halo" is also used in Indonesian to refer to a circle of light around the head of a saint or other holy figure. |
| Irish | The Irish greeting 'Dia dhuit' literally means 'God to you' in English. |
| Italian | The etymology of "Ciao" is uncertain, with its first recorded use in the 15th century in the Venetian dialect, possibly deriving from the Venetian "s'ciao" (short for "schiavo vostro") meaning "(I am) your slave." |
| Japanese | "Konnichiwa" literally means "this day" and can be used as both a greeting and a parting phrase. |
| Javanese | In Javanese, "halo" also refers to a circle drawn with rice flour to protect a baby from evil spirits. |
| Kannada | In Kannada, the term "ಹಲೋ" is also used in certain religious contexts, such as offerings made in a Hindu temple. |
| Kazakh | In Kazakh, the traditional greeting "Сәлеметсіз бе" does not literally mean "hello" but rather roughly translates to "Are you well?" |
| Khmer | "សួស្តី" is derived from Sanskrit and also means "peace" and "wellbeing". |
| Korean | "여보세요" (hello) originally meant "Do you mind?" |
| Kurdish | The word "Slav" is also used as a term of endearment for a person who is close to one's heart. |
| Kyrgyz | Kyrgyz word "салам", used as a general greeting, originated from Persian word "salām" (سلام) which itself originated from the Arabic word "salām" (سلام) which means "peace" |
| Latin | Latin "salve" means "be well," suggesting that well-being was an important part of the greeting. |
| Latvian | Derived from the word 'sveiks,' meaning 'healthy,' 'Sveiki' is often used as a greeting or as a toast during gatherings. |
| Lithuanian | Sveiki is sometimes used as a noun referring to one's ancestors, but more specifically their spirits which are connected to the family. |
| Luxembourgish | The Luxembourgish word "Hallo" can also mean "What's up?" or "How are you?" |
| Macedonian | The word "Здраво" in Macedonian is derived from the Proto-Slavic root "*zdravo", meaning "healthy" or "whole". |
| Malagasy | The word "Salama" in Malagasy also means "peace" or "well-being". |
| Malay | The word "hello" in Malay, "halo," also means "circle" or "ring". |
| Malayalam | Originally derived from the Old English word, "hleo," meaning "shelter, protection," "haloo" was first used to call for aid in emergencies. |
| Maltese | Maltese 'Bongu' means 'good day,' and also refers to a type of fish stew or a traditional Maltese dish of broad beans and cauliflower, cooked in tomato paste. |
| Maori | The Maori greeting "tena koutou" literally means "greetings to you all". |
| Marathi | The word 'नमस्कार' is derived from the Sanskrit word 'नमस्' meaning 'bow down' and 'कार' meaning 'to do', hence 'to bow down to'. |
| Mongolian | The Mongolian greeting "Сайн уу" can also be used to express "How are you?" |
| Nepali | The word “नमस्कार” (namaste) in Nepali is derived from the Sanskrit word “नमस्” (namas), meaning “to bow” or “to pay homage”. |
| Norwegian | In Norwegian, "hallo" also means "hallway", and is thought to be derived from the Old Norse words "hallr" and "ló" (meaning "hall" and "floor"), possibly due to its use as a greeting upon entering someone's home. |
| Nyanja (Chichewa) | The word "Moni" in Chichewa is also used to mean "greetings" or "good day." |
| Pashto | The Pashto word "سلام" can also mean "peace" or "greeting." |
| Persian | Salam" is derived from the Arabic word "as-salam," meaning "peace" or "well-being." |
| Polish | "Dzień dobry" literally means "good day" and can be used at any time of the day or night. |
| Portuguese (Portugal, Brazil) | The word "Olá" in Portuguese has Arabic origins, derived from the Arabic phrase "Wa aleikum as-Salām" meaning "And peace be unto you"} |
| Punjabi | "Sat Sri Akal" means "True is the Eternal", and is also used as a greeting in Sikhism. |
| Romanian | The Romanian word "Salut" has its origins in the French word "Salut" and the Latin word "Salus", both meaning "health" or "well-being". |
| Russian | "Здравствуйте" in Russian comes from an old religious phrase meaning something like "May God keep you in good health". |
| Samoan | "Talofa" also means "to talk" or "to address" in Samoan. |
| Scots Gaelic | In modern English, halò is synonymous with hello but it also means literally "stop there" and is used to get someone's attention. |
| Serbian | "Zdravo" originates from the Old Slavonic "zdraviti", meaning "to be healthy", and is also used as a toast to someone's health. |
| Sesotho | The word 'Lumela' can also be used to express greetings, praise or welcome to someone who is arriving. |
| Shona | The word "mhoro" can also mean "peace" or "well-being" in Shona, reflecting the importance of harmony and community in the culture. |
| Sindhi | In Sindhi, "سلام" is derived from the Arabic "سَلَامٌ" (peace) and can also mean "farewell" or "goodbye". |
| Sinhala (Sinhalese) | "Hello" in Sinhala comes from the English "hello", which in turn derives from the German "hallo", first used in 1883 by Thomas Edison's assistant in the laboratory, when the telephone was being invented. |
| Slovak | Originally from the Slovak 'ahoj', a nautical term of greeting among sailors on the Danube River. |
| Slovenian | The word "zdravo" (hello) is related to the verb "zdraviti" (to heal) and the adjective "zdrav" (healthy) |
| Somali | The Somali word 'hello' ('salaan') also means 'peace' and is often used as a greeting to express goodwill. |
| Spanish | "Hola" is derived from the Old Spanish phrase "De hora en hora," meaning "from hour to hour." |
| Sundanese | In Sundanese, "halo" also means "to be alert" or "to be on guard." |
| Swahili | In Swahili, "hello" can also mean "greetings" or "welcome" depending on the context. |
| Swedish | The Swedish word ”Hallå” originates from a heraldic call of greeting: ”Till hopa!” – ”Come together!”, and its first written record dates back to 1411. |
| Tagalog (Filipino) | The Tagalog word "kamusta" originally meant "what's the news?" and is related to the Malay word "khabar" meaning "news". |
| Tajik | The word "Салом" in Tajik has a dual origin, deriving both from the Persian "salam" meaning "peace" and the Arabic "salaam" meaning "safety". |
| Tamil | The word 'வணக்கம்' comes from the Sanskrit word 'वन्दे' which means 'to bow down' or 'to pay homage'. |
| Telugu | The word "హలో" (hello) is derived from the German "hallo", meaning "ahoy" or "hold". |
| Thai | The word "สวัสดี" (sawatdee) is derived from Sanskrit and means "good health and well-being". |
| Turkish | "Merhaba" originates from the Arabic phrase "Marhaba-n" meaning "welcome" and is also used as "hi, how are you?" in Turkish. |
| Ukrainian | "Здрастуйте" derives from the old Church Slavonic phrase "зъдравъ тꙑ", meaning "may you be healthy," hence its use as a greeting. |
| Urdu | "ہیلو" is derived from Persian "های" and literally means "I am". |
| Uzbek | "Salom," the Uzbek greeting meaning both "peace" and "hello," originates from Arabic, with its root word being "salam." |
| Vietnamese | "Xin chào" literally means "please have compassion" and is used as a greeting to someone one has just met or who does not know one well. |
| Welsh | The Welsh word "Helo" is a shortened form of "Henllyn" meaning "goodwill". |
| Xhosa | The Xhosa word "Mholweni" can also be translated as "be at peace" or "be well". |
| Yiddish | The Yiddish word "העלא" derives from the Hebrew "העלך," meaning "to raise"} |
| Yoruba | Pẹlẹ o, meaning "hello," derives from "pẹlẹ," signifying "gently," and "ọ," a second person pronoun, together implying a respectful greeting. |
| Zulu | "Sawubona" also means "We see you, you are important to us" in Zulu and is a greeting that acknowledges the presence and value of the person being addressed. |
| English | The word "hello" is thought to have originated from the Old English word "hālewes" meaning "whole" or "unhurt." |