aloha

Other forms: alohas

Aloha is a Hawaiian word with many meanings, ranging from love, peace, and compassion to pity and grief. It's commonly used, especially by visitors to Hawaii, to mean "hello" and "goodbye."

While tourists may think of aloha as an authentic way to say, "Hi there!" or "See ya!," this word much more complicated to native Hawaiians. Aloha can be a way to add strong emotion to a greeting or to express heartbreak. It's a culturally and spiritually meaningful word that's shared by all Polynesian languages.

Definitions of aloha

1. noun

   an acknowledgment that can be used to say hello or goodbye (aloha is Hawaiian and ciao is Italian)
   synonyms: ciao

   type of:

   acknowledgement, acknowledgment

   a statement acknowledging something or someone