Hiya

Part of speech: interjection

Definitions

1. An informal greeting used to say hello or attract someone's attention in a friendly manner
2. A casual expression often uttered to initiate conversation or acknowledge another person cheerfully
3. A brief and upbeat salutation employed to welcome or greet someone in an easygoing way

Etymology: "Hiya" is a clipping of "how are you?", with "hi" pulling the sound toward a greeting. The contraction was a US colloquialism of the 1940s, when speakers ran the stressed syllables of the question together into a single quick, cheerful sound. The result is a greeting that has shed the question it began as, so it is answered with a greeting of its own rather than an answer about one's health. The word also has an onomatopoeic quality: its open vowel and rising breathiness sound like a friendly exclamation, which probably helped it stick once it was spoken. Its ease of pronunciation made it a natural choice for quick, informal hellos among people who did not need the full question.

Synonyms: hello, hi, hey, greetings

Antonyms: goodbye, farewell