Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- interjection Used to express greeting or farewell.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- interjection
hello ,hi (especially US),howdy (US). - interjection
bye ,goodbye .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an acknowledgment that can be used to say hello or goodbye (aloha is Hawaiian and ciao is Italian)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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I suppose I could say "ciao" - which does have a certain etymological background of coming from the Italian schiavo, which means "I am your slave," and I don't much want to say that either...
NPR Topics: News 2011
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Shopping is a bit weird, since I was taken from the Bing site and dumped at somewhere called ciao!
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You smile and wave when you spot each other, yellow maps and cameras in hand; maybe you exchange "ciao" s.
Lauren Quinn: A Hunger for More: Fame Festival Opening Lauren Quinn 2010
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You smile and wave when you spot each other, yellow maps and cameras in hand; maybe you exchange "ciao" s.
Lauren Quinn: A Hunger for More: Fame Festival Opening Lauren Quinn 2010
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You smile and wave when you spot each other, yellow maps and cameras in hand; maybe you exchange "ciao" s.
Lauren Quinn: A Hunger for More: Fame Festival Opening Lauren Quinn 2010
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I remember saying "ciao" but not kissing her, not even looking at her, as though the ugliness was chasing me.
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The one Italian word he could spell correctly, he said, was 'ciao', because it was anagram of his surname.
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The one Italian word he could spell correctly, he said, was 'ciao', because it was anagram of his surname.
Archive 2009-07-01 2009
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Although displeased, I said "ciao" to Bourdain, barked farewell to The Puppy Bowl and a handful of others.
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It could be "ciao", an Italian word but maybe it's just my nationality convincing me it's "ciao".
Tagruato Hacked Again! Dennis 2007
vanishedone commented on the word ciao
Why is WeirdNet bringing Hawaiian into this?
T.L.S.: 'English words borrowed from Venetian include artichoke, arsenal, ballot, casino, contraband, gazette, ghetto, imbroglio, gondola, lagoon, lido, lotto, marzipan, pantaloon, pistachio, quarantine, regatta, scampi, sequin and zany. “Ciao�? – a long-standing contraction of the courteous Venetian salutation “vostro schiavo�? (your humble servant) – has now become a global greeting.'
December 12, 2008
bilby commented on the word ciao
You say goodbye, I say hello.
December 12, 2008
kewpid commented on the word ciao
I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello.
December 12, 2008
bilby commented on the word ciao
Hello? Goodbye?
December 12, 2008
reesetee commented on the word ciao
Never mind the Hawaiian; look at the second definition. That would mean that nearly all of our comments here on Wordie are...uh...ciaos.
December 13, 2008
bilby commented on the word ciao
Ciao reesetee.
December 13, 2008
Telofy commented on the word ciao
You can't negate implications like that. ^^
That "ciao" is "a statement acknowledging something or someone" does not necessarily mean that any statement acknowledging something or someone is a ciao. Only for bijective relations both such statements would be true, respectively, it would be a bijective relation if both statements were true.
Ciao.
December 16, 2008
sionnach commented on the word ciao
I find the claim that marzipan is derived from Venetian hard to believe, Roderick Conway Morris notwithstanding.
The claim for artichoke is equally dubious. The etymological dictionary online tells us that:
1531, from articiocco, Northern It. variant of It. arcicioffo, from O.Sp. alcarchofa, from Ar. al-kharshof "artichoke."
suggesting that Venice was only a way station along a longer etymological pathway.
ballot holds up as Venetian, but sequin only partially:
1617, name of a former Italian and Turkish gold coin, from Fr. sequin, from It. zecchino, from zecca "a mint," from Ar. sikkah "a minting die." Meaning "ornamental disc or spangle" is first recorded 1882, from resemblance to a gold coin.
ghetto is murky -
1611, from It. ghetto "part of a city to which Jews are restricted," various theories of its origin include: Yiddish get "deed of separation;" special use of Venetian getto "foundry" (there was one near the site of that city's ghetto in 1516); Egitto "Egypt," from L. Aegyptus (presumably in memory of the exile); or It. borghetto "small section of a town" (dim. of borgo, of Gmc. origin, see borough). Extended 1892 to crowded urban quarters of other minority groups.
lotto is traceable to the old English 'hlot'.
imbroglio to the middle French word 'brouiller'
Methinks that Roderick Conway Morris is not to be trusted. I can't be bothered to check the others.
December 16, 2008
reesetee commented on the word ciao
Ciao, sionnach.
December 16, 2008