hello

 
Pronunciation: /həˈləʊ, hɛ-/
(also hallo or hullo)

exclamation

  • used as a greeting or to begin a telephone conversation: hello there, Katie!
  • British used to express surprise: hello, what’s all this then?
  • used as a cry to attract someone’s attention: ‘Hello below!’ he cried
  • used informally to express sarcasm or anger: Hello! Did you even get what the play was about?

noun (plural hellos)

  • an utterance of ‘hello’; a greeting: she was getting polite nods and hellos from people

verb (helloes, helloing, helloed)

[no object]
  • say or shout ‘hello’: I pressed the phone button and helloed

Origin:

late 19th century: variant of earlier hollo; related to holla