Greetings

How to spell greetings

9 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce greetings

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does greetings mean?

1. nounSpoken or written expressions of welcome, friendship, or good wishes sent to someone.
2. interjectionA word used to address or welcome someone on meeting or making contact.

Greetings in a sentence

• noun

  She sent her warm greetings to the whole family back home.

• interjection

  Greetings from sunny Lisbon, the holiday postcard began.

• noun

  The birthday card was crowded with greetings from his colleagues.

• interjection

  The speaker opened with friendly greetings to everyone in the hall.

Where does greetings come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

This word grows from the Old English verb gretan, which meant to approach, to accost, or to address someone, and only later narrowed to the friendly sense of welcoming or saluting. The same root spread across the Germanic languages, surviving in the modern Dutch groeten and German gruessen, both meaning to greet, which shows how old and well travelled the idea is. The noun greeting, formed by adding the -ing ending to the verb, simply names the act or words of welcome, and the plural greetings became the standard form for sets of good wishes, as in season's greetings. The double e in the stem reflects the long vowel of the Old English original and has stayed put for centuries, which is why the spelling feels reliable to most adults. Because the word is native English rather than a borrowing, it carries no awkward foreign letters, only the steady greet plus its familiar endings.

How the word is built

• greet (from Old English gretan: to approach, salute)
• -ing (noun-forming suffix)
• -s (plural marker)