Feb 3, 2025
The Origin of ‘Hello’ – Subtitles
Did you know that “hello” has only been popular for about 150 years?
Before “hello,” people used greetings like “hail,” which is related to the word “health” and “well-being” was used in middle ages. There were also variants of “hail” like “hollo,” “hallo,” and “halloa,” and the variant “holler” eventually came to mean “to shout” or “to complain.”
“Hello” was first recorded in the 1800s, originally used to get attention or express surprise, like, “Well, hello! What do we have here?”
With the invention of the telephone, Thomas Edison suggested “hello” as a phone greeting, while Alexander Graham Bell preferred “Ahoy.” And “Hello” became more popular than “Ahoy”. Eventually, “hello” replaced less convenient phrases like “Are you there?”
As telephones spread, “hello” became a universal greeting, showing how technology can shape language.
So next time you answer the phone, remember—you’re continuing over a century of history!