ciao

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian ciao (“hello, goodbye”), from Venetian ciao (“hello, goodbye, your (humble) servant”), from Venetian s-ciao / s-ciavo (“servant, slave”), from Medieval Latin sclavus (“Slav, slave”), related also to Italian schiavo, English Slav, slave and Old Venetian S-ciavón ("Slav"), from Latin Sclavonia (“Slavonia”). Not related to Vietnamese chào (“hello, goodbye”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃaʊ/
• Rhymes: -aʊ
• Homophone: chow

Interjection

ciao

1. hello, hi.
2. bye, goodbye.

Synonyms

• (hello): aloha, shalom, ayubowan, privet
• (goodbye): adieu, adios, aloha, arrivederci, au revoir, bye, bye-bye, cheerio, cheers, farewell, good-by, good-bye, goodbye, good day, sayonara, shalom, so long

Translations

hello — see hello

goodbye — see goodbye

transliteration of the Italian greeting or farewell

• Arabic: تْشَاو‏‎ (tšāw)
• Bulgarian: ча́о (čáo)
• Esperanto: ĉaŭ (eo)
• Estonian: tšau, tsau (et), tsauka, tsauki
• French: tchao (fr)
• Galician: chao (gl) m
• Japanese: チャオ (chao)

• Portuguese: tchau (pt)
• Russian: ча́о (ru) (čáo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ћао

  Roman: ćao (sh)

• Ukrainian: ча́о (čáo)

Noun

ciao (plural ciaos)

1. A greeting or farewell using the word "ciao".
   • 2010, Robert V. Camuto, Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey (page 16)

     […] he excused himself, disappearing in a cloud of ciaos and operatic Italian.

   • 2007, Darwin Porter, Danforth Prince, Bahamas For Dummies (page 196)

     You hear more ciaos than hellos. Guests play bocce ball on the beach and dine on Italian and some Bahamian cuisine. Because of its strong Continental overlay, the cuisine is better here than at your typical Grand Bahama hotel.

Usage notes

In UK and in US usage, ciao is considered pretentious by some.

Anagrams

• ICAO

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French

Alternative forms

• tchao

Etymology

From Italian ciao (“hello, goodbye”), from Venetian ciao (“hullo, goodbye; your (humble) servant”), from Venetian s-ciao (“servant, slave”) or s-ciavo (“servant, slave”), from Medieval Latin sclavus (“Slav, slave”), related also to Italian schiavo, English Slav, slave and old Venetian S-ciavón ("Slav"), from Latin Sclavonia (“Slavonia”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʃa.o/, /tʃaw/

Interjection

ciao

1. ciao

Synonyms

• adieu
• au revoir
• salut
• tschüs

Further reading

• “ciao” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from Venetian s-ciao, sciavo (“slave”) (in particular the expression s-ciao vostro, literally meaning "(I am) your slave" but in essence meaning "I am at your service", or "your humble servant"), from Medieval Latin sclavus (“slave”) (whence also standard Italian schiavo); in the Venetian language originally pronounced /stʃaʊ/. Development and use is similar to the Central European greeting of servus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃao/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cià‧o

Interjection

ciao!

1. Hello!
2. Goodbye!
   • Early 1940s, written by an unknown Italian partisan, Bella Ciao (Goodbye, beautiful!):

     È questo il fiore del partigiano,

     o bella, ciao! bella, ciao! bella, ciao, ciao, ciao!

     È questo il fiore del partigiano,

     morto per la libertà!

     This is the flower of the partisan,

     Oh beautiful, goodbye! Beautiful, goodbye! Beautiful, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye!

     This is the flower of the partisan,

     Who died for freedom!

Derived terms

• ciao ciao

Descendants

• Bulgarian: чао (čáo)
• Czech: čau
• Dutch: tjo
• Esperanto: ĉaŭ
• Estonian: tšau
• French: ciao, tchao
• German: tschau, ciao
• Hungarian: csáó, csá
• Ido: chao
• Japanese: チャオ (chao)
• Latvian: čau
• Macedonian: чао (čáo)

• Maltese: ċaw
• Polish: ciao
• Portuguese: tchau
• Russian: ча́о (čáo)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ћао

  Roman: ćao

• Slovak: čau
• Slovene: čáo
• Spanish: chau, chao
• Ukrainian: чао (čáo)

Anagrams

• Caio

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Spanish

Interjection

ciao

1. ciao