Hi
adj, intj, name, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 The word "hi" used as a greeting.
"I didn't even get a hi."
- 2 Abbreviation of high (“high gear or high range”). abbreviation, alt-of, uncountable
- 3 an expression of greeting wordnet
- 4 Initialism of hyperspectral imaging. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism, uncountable
- 1 Informal spelling of high, often in hyphenated terms. alt-of, informal
"Get hi-quality videos here!"
- 1 A friendly, informal, casual greeting said upon someone's arrival.
"Hi, how are you?"
- 2 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."
- 3 Expressing wonder or derision.
"How did he do that, hi?"
- 1 Abbreviation of Hawaii: a state of the United States. abbreviation, alt-of
- 2 A male given name, a short form of Hiram
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"There's no point saying "Hi, how are you?" to me if you have nothing else to say."
Etymology
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.
Related phrases
More for "hi"
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.