Word.ws English Dictionary

ayo

/ˈeɪ.(j)oʊ/

ayo interjection: a greeting.

Interjection

  1. (US, error-unknown-tag, slang) A greeting.
    • "Ayo, Red. It's the homie Spits on the jack for you, blood." "Ayo, homeboy," said Red as he excitedly picked up the telephone receiver. "What's up, fool?"2004, Michael Daniel Baptiste, Cracked Dreams, page 73
    • “Ayo, wassup, girl,” he said to Keisha as he continued to walk toward the back area where I stood. […] “Ayo, wassup, playa?2007, Reginald L. Hall, In Love with a Thug, page 38
    Synonyms:
    hey, hi, yo
  2. (US, error-unknown-tag, slang) Used to indicate shock towards sth esp. of a disapproving manner.
    1. (US, error-unknown-tag, slang, extensively) Used to imply that what was said is inappropriate, perhaps sexually so.
      • Ayo, what'd you just say?

Noun

IPA/ˈa.jo/

ayo (uncountable)

  1. (Africa, West) A type of mancala strategy game played by the Yoruba.

Phrase capitalized: AYO

AYO

  1. (Internet, abbreviation, initialism) Initialism of are you OK?.

Examples of ayo in a sentence

  • Ayo Toine, you think they'd put me down?2007, Tony J. Ward, Jr., I've Got to Make It to Heaven for Going Through Hell: Part 1, page 39:
  • "Ayo, fam, you a'ight down there?" Victorious's cell mate asked.2007, Nikki Turner, Christmas in the Hood, page 289:
  • "Ayo, ma, where you going?" a dude asked her as she walked by him.2008, Treasure Hernandez, Resurrection, page 106:
  • "Ayo, Kalil!" a man's voice said from amidst the crowd.2008, Ashley JaQuavis, The Trophy Wife, page 103:

Synonyms of ayo

Origin of ayo

Combination of hey and yo.

From Yoruba ayò, an abridged form of ayò ọlọ́pọ́n.

Words formed from ayo

Questions about ayo

What does ayo mean?
Ayo means a greeting.
How do you use ayo in a sentence?
Ayo Toine, you think they'd put me down?
What part of speech is ayo?
Ayo can be an interjection, a noun or a phrase.
How do you pronounce ayo?
Ayo is pronounced /ˈeɪ.(j)oʊ/.

Words near ayo in the dictionary

  1. Aynesworth
  2. Aynho
  3. Aynilian
  4. Aynilians
  5. ayns
  6. ayo
  7. ayo chill
  8. ayoayo
  9. ayocote
  10. ayocotes
  11. Ayodhya

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ayo (page history and authors); AYO (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ayo.wav.

Cite this entry: “ayo.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ayo. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.