hi
/haɪ/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
South Asia/haːj/
hi interjection: a friendly, informal, casual greeting said upon someone's arrival. Also the informal spelling of high.
Interjection
- A friendly, informal, casual greeting said upon someone's arrival.
- Hi, how are you?
- I just dropped by to say “hi”.
- An exclamation to call attention.
- I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC
- 'Come back now!' shouted Sam. 'Hi! Come back!' But Gollum had vanished.1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Two Towers
- Expressing wonder or derision.
- How did he do that, hi?
- That’s mad, hi!
Noun (1)
hi (plural his)
- The word "hi" used as a greeting.
- I didn't even get a hi.
Proper noun (1) capitalized: HI
HI
- Abbreviation of Hawaii: a state of the United States.
Noun (2) capitalized: HI
HI (uncountable)
- Abbreviation of high (“high gear or high range”).
- Antonyms:
- LO[low]], low gear>
- Initialism of hyperspectral imaging.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Hi
Hi
- A male given name, a short form of Hiram
Also used as
hi is also the informal spelling of high.
hi meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
hi in Hindi
- friendly, informal greeting
- नमस्ते namaste, सलाम salām, हाइ hāi
hi in Tamil
- friendly, informal greeting
- வணக்கம் vaṇakkam
hi in Marathi
- हाय
hi in Urdu
- friendly, informal greeting
- سَلام salām, اَلسَّلامُ عَلَیکُم as-salāmu 'alaikum, سَلام عَلَیکُم salām 'alaikum, آداب ādāb
More languagesFewer languages
- hi in Bengali
- সালাম salam
- hi in Telugu
- హాయ్
- hi in Malayalam
- ഹായ്
- hi in Kannada
- ಹಾಯ್
- hi in Punjabi
- ਹਾਇ
- hi in Gujarati
- હાય
- hi in Odia
- ହାଇ
- hi in Nepali
- हाइ नमस्कार hāi, नमस्ते namaste
- hi in Pashto
- سلام salām
- hi in Tagalog
- helo, hoy
- hi in Arabic
- مَرْحَبًا marḥaban, سَلَام salām, أَهْلًا ʔahlan, أهلاً
- hi in Malay
- hai, salam
- hi in Indonesian
- hai, salam
- hi in Persian
- سَلام salâm, دُرود dorud
- hi in Thai
- หวัดดี wàt-dii, สวัสดี sà-wàt-dii
- hi in Myanmar
- မင်္ဂလာပါ mangga.lapa
Examples of hi in a sentence
- Hi, Marsha! — Anna: Hi! — Pete: How are you two? — Marsha: I am great!2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- When out on the prairie, up galloped an Indian on his pony with his saluting "hi!"1862, Miriam Davis Colt, Went to Kansas, L. Ingalls & Company, →ISBN, page 143:
Synonyms of hi
Antonyms
- LO[low]], low gear>
Forms of hi
| Interjection | |
|---|---|
| alternative form | heigh |
| Noun | |
| plural | his |
Origin of hi
American English. First recorded reference is to speech of a Kansas Indian (1862); originally to attract attention, probably a variant of Middle English hey, hy (circa 1475). Also an exclamation to call attention. See hey.
From high.
Clipping of Hiram.
Words formed from hi
Phrases with hi
Words that rhyme with hi
Questions about hi
- What does hi mean?
- Hi means a friendly, informal, casual greeting said upon someone's arrival.
- What is hi in Hindi?
- Hi in Hindi is नमस्ते (namaste), सलाम (salām), हाइ (hāi). See Hi meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use hi in a sentence?
- Hi, Marsha! — Anna: Hi! — Pete: How are you two? — Marsha: I am great!
- What part of speech is hi?
- Hi can be an interjection, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce hi?
- Hi is pronounced /haɪ/.
Words near hi in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hi (page history and authors); HI (page history and authors); Hi (page history and authors); hi (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hi (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hi (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hi (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hi (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hi (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); hi (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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: en-us-hi.ogg, En-uk-hi.ogg.
Cite this entry: “hi.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hi. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.