Hello is a salutation or greeting in the English language. It is first attested in writing from 1826.[1]

Hello, with that spelling, was used in publications in the US as early as the 18 October 1826 edition of the Norwich Courier of Norwich, Connecticut.[1] Another early use was an 1833 American book called The Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett, of West Tennessee,[2] which was reprinted that same year in The London Literary Gazette.[3]

The word was extensively used in literature by the 1860s.[4]