Also especially British, hullo.

Origin of hello

First recorded in 1865–70; variant of hallo

Example sentences from the Web for hello

British Dictionary definitions for hello

hello

hallo or hullo

/ (hɛˈləʊ, hə-, ˈhɛləʊ) /

sentence substitute

an expression of greeting used on meeting a person or at the start of a telephone call
a call used to attract attention
an expression of surprise
an expression used to indicate that the speaker thinks his or her listener is naive or slow to realize something Hello? Have you been on Mars for the past two weeks or something?

noun plural -los

the act of saying or calling "hello"

Word Origin for hello

C19: see hallo