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
Synonyms
Translations
Noun
ciao (plural ciaos)
- 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.
- 2010, Robert V. Camuto, Palmento: A Sicilian Wine Odyssey (page 16)
Usage notes
In UK and in US usage, ciao is considered pretentious by some.
Bavarian
References
- Umberto Patuzzi, ed., (2013) Ünsarne Börtar, Luserna: Comitato unitario delle linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien.
French
Alternative forms
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/
Further reading
- “ciao” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
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!
- hello!
- Synonyms: salve (formal), buongiorno
- goodbye!
- Synonyms: arrivederla (formal), arrivederci, ci vediamo (colloquial)
- 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!
- This is the flower of the partisan,
Derived terms
Descendants
- → Alemannic German: tschau, tschavò
- → Bavarian: ciao
- → Bulgarian: чао (čáo)
- → Czech: čau
- → Esperanto: ĉaŭ
- → Dutch: tjo
- → Ewe: tšau, tsau, tšauki, tsauki
- → French: ciao, tchao
- → German: tschau, ciao
- → Hungarian: csaó, csá
- → Japanese: チャオ (chao)
- → Latvian: čau
- → Macedonian: чао (čáo)
- → Maltese: ċaw
- → Polish: ciao
- → Portuguese: tchau
- → Russian: ча́о (čáo)
- → Serbo-Croatian:
- → Slovak: čau
- → Slovene: čáo
- → Spanish: chao, chau
- → Ukrainian: чао (čáo)
Romanian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈt͡ʃau/