Spoken greeting - Definition and Overview

A spoken greeting (often imprecisely called a verbal greeting) is a customary or ritualised word or phrase used to introduce oneself or to greet someone. Greeting habits are highly culture- and situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status.

In English, some common verbal greetings are:

• "Hello", "hi" - General verbal greetings. The abbreviated version is less formal.
• "Hey" is another less formal greeting.
• "Good morning", "good afternoon", "good evening" - More formal verbal greetings used at the appropriate time of day. Note that the similar "good night" and "good day" are more commonly used as phrases of parting rather than greeting, although in Australian English "G'Day" is a very common greeting.
• "What's up?", "How's it going?" and "What's happening?" - informal greetings used frequently

Verbal greetings in other languages may also be found at common phrases in different languages.

Example Usage of greeting