Hello is the most common way to greet someone in English. It’s acceptable in both formal and informal situations. But because it’s such a common word, it’s easy to overuse.
If you want to change up your greetings, you can use synonyms for hello. In this list, we have 23 closely related words you can use to say hello in your writing.
Contents:
Synonyms for Hello in a Professional Email
When you’re writing a professional email or letter, you want to stay away from using informal language. Instead, you should use formal greetings.
Hello is one way to open an email to someone. Here are some alternative ideas for how to greet someone in professional written communication:
- Good morning
- Good afternoon
- Good evening
- Good day
- Dear
- Greetings
You might see hi occasionally in formal communication. The word hi is traditionally an informal word only.
However, it’s recently become a more acceptable greeting in formal email communication. Some people think it sounds more personable, while other people think it’s too informal.
We recommend only using hi with people you know well in a professional setting, such as fellow team members. This way, you won’t accidentally offend someone you don’t know in your email.
Synonyms for Hello in Informal Writing
There are many more ways to say hello in informal writing. The following words are great for personal emails, texts, and social media messages.
- Hi
- Hi there
- Hey
- Hey there
- Howdy
- What’s up?
- Yo
- How’s it going?
Other Hello Synonyms
When we say hello as a greeting, it acts like an interjection. As a noun, hello is a word that means “a greeting or salutation.” For example, you might say, “We said our hellos.”
Here are some hello synonyms you can use in lieu of the noun form:
- Welcome
- Greeting
- Salutation
- Regards
There are other ways to say hello to someone. Below are a few more ways to say hello to someone; some are more acceptable for in-person interactions, and others are out of date.
- Greetings (written)
- How do you do? (in person, somewhat out of style)
- Welcome (written or in person)
- Salutations (written, out of date)
- Good day (in-person, depending on geographical location)
How to Select a Synonym for Hello
Context matters when it comes to selecting another word to use in place of hello. A thesaurus is helpful for finding synonyms, but not all the words will fit every situation.
ProWritingAid’s Contextual Thesaurus is a great way to find exactly the right word to use. Access this feature by clicking on Menu in the online editor and selecting Word Explorer. Type in the word you want to search, then click Thesaurus on the left-hand side.
In the Thesaurus section, you’ll see two categories: Synonyms and Contextually Related. Use these to find related words to improve your writing.
You can also access this feature by clicking on a word in your writing and clicking Word Explorer below the list of synonyms. This will automatically search the word that you clicked on.
The Contextual Thesaurus feature is just one of the ways ProWritingAid can improve your writing. Use it for hello synonyms and much more to make your prose shine.
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