# Ciao
**Ciao** is an Italian informal greeting used both when meeting someone and when parting from them, addressed to people with whom one would use the familiar pronoun *tu*; once frequent mainly in northern Italy, it is now of international use[1](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ciao/). Etymologically it is a clipped form of the Venetian courtesy phrase *s-ciao vostro*, literally "(I am) your slave", equivalent to "your humble servant" or "at your service"[1](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ciao/) • [2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciao).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Informal Italian greeting, used for both "hello" and "goodbye", with people addressed as *tu*[1](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ciao/) |
| Etymology | From Venetian *s-ciao*, *s-ciavo* "slave", in the phrase *s-ciao vostro* "(I am) your slave"; from Medieval Latin *sclavus* "slave"[1](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ciao/) • [2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciao) |
| Deeper origin | *Sclavus* originally meant "Slav"; the ethnic name became the general word for slave because so many Slavs were sold into slavery[3](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ciao) |
| Entry into English | Recorded as a parting salutation in 1929; the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary dates it to the 1920s[3](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ciao) • [4](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/ciao) |
| First literary attestation | Giovanni Verga's novel *Eros*, written in 1874 and published the following year[5](https://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/domande_e_risposte/lessico/lessico_257.html) |
| Spread | Long confined to northern Italy, then the informal greeting for all Italy and a widely exported italianism; regional variants include *s-ciao*, *ciau*, *cià*, and *cià-ciao*[6](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/formule-di-saluto_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/) |
## Etymology
The chain of derivation runs from Proto-Slavic *slověninъ* ("Slav") through Ancient Greek Σκλαβηνός and [Medieval Latin](https://www.edgepedia.org/medieval-latin) *sclavus* to Venetian *s-ciao* / *s-ciavo* and finally Italian *ciao*[2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciao). Medieval Latin *sclavus* was originally an ethnic name meaning "Slav", and came to mean "slave" because of the many Slavs sold into slavery by conquering peoples; English *slave*, French *esclave*, and Spanish *esclavo* share this origin[3](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ciao). In Venetian the word was originally pronounced /stʃaʊ/[2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciao).
The greeting began as a formula of deference toward interlocutors of higher rank: *s-ciavo vostro*, "I am your slave", meaning "I am at your service"[2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciao) • [7](https://www.cruscascuola.it/download/da-roland-a-don-chisciotte-alla-scoperta-della-letteratura-in-sella-ad-un-cavallo%21/A67B6E2A-33BB-4A64-9E94-F8F36C783CDA). The same servile greeting underlies the standard Italian word *schiavo* "slave", which could itself stand alone as an obsequious salute; the Venetian playwright [Carlo Goldoni](https://www.edgepedia.org/carlo-goldoni) used it this way in his comedies, and Treccani's entry for *schiavo* still records it as a deferential greeting of Venetian origin[6](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/formule-di-saluto_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/) • [8](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/schiavo/).
Self-deprecating greetings of this kind were once ordinary across Europe. The English valedictions *Your obedient servant* and *Your servant, madam* worked the same way, and the [Classical Latin](https://www.edgepedia.org/classical-latin) word *servus*, "slave", survives as an informal greeting in southern Germany and Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Ukraine, and other parts of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire[9](https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=ciao). The development of *ciao* parallels that of German *Servus* and Swedish *tjena*[2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciao).
## From deference to familiarity
The reverential value of the word was already lost by the nineteenth century. Giuseppe Boerio's *Dizionario del dialetto veneziano*, in its first edition of 1829, described the greeting as a way of saluting someone "with great familiarity"[10](https://iris.unive.it/bitstream/10278/27946/1/Itabolario.pdf). The first appearance of *ciao* in a literary work is in [Giovanni Verga](https://www.edgepedia.org/giovanni-verga)'s novel *Eros*, written in 1874 and published the next year, in the line "Ciao! Alberto le fissò addosso un lungo sguardo, che valeva per lo meno quanto il ciao"[5](https://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/domande_e_risposte/lessico/lessico_257.html). Verga, a Sicilian, was thus the writer who carried a Venetian greeting into Italian literature; in the closing decades of the century the word was used again by Verga himself, by Pirandello in *L'esclusa*, by Carducci, and by northern writers such as Fogazzaro and De Marchi[10](https://iris.unive.it/bitstream/10278/27946/1/Itabolario.pdf).
**Spread beyond the Veneto.** Having originated from a ceremonial salute and long circulated only in the north, *ciao* became the informal greeting of the whole of Italy and was exported abroad as a notably successful italianism[6](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/formule-di-saluto_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/). English borrowed it as a parting salutation first recorded in 1929[3](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ciao), and it now appears in English dictionaries as an informal word for both hello and goodbye[4](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/ciao) • [11](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/ciao). Related borrowings include Spanish *chao* and German *tschau*, a casual goodbye[12](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chao) • [13](https://lingogrove.com/ciao-meaning/).
## Place in the Italian greeting system
Within modern Italian, *ciao* is the most confidential of the greeting formulas: it can open or close a conversation, at any hour of the day or night, and pairs typically with itself as an echo response (A: *ciao*; B: *ciao*)[14](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/formule-di-saluto_(La-grammatica-italiana)/) • [6](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/formule-di-saluto_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/). It is appropriate with friends, relatives, and people addressed as *tu*; formal contexts call instead for *buongiorno*, *buonasera*, or *arrivederci*[1](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ciao/) • [14](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/formule-di-saluto_(La-grammatica-italiana)/). In closing interactions, especially by telephone, it is often repeated several times ("Ciao ciao ciao"), suggesting that a single *ciao* has lost some of its closing force[6](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/formule-di-saluto_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/).
As a noun it is invariable and means the greeting itself, as in "gli disse un ciao frettoloso"; figuratively, the word can also mark the definitive end of something[1](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ciao/). Because it is informal, some English speakers hear *ciao* used outside Italy as affected rather than merely casual[2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciao).
## A lookalike with no kinship
The Vietnamese greeting *chào*, which likewise means both hello and goodbye and resembles *ciao* in sound, is a false cognate with no etymological connection to the Italian word[2](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciao).
## References
1. [Ciao, Vocabolario Treccani](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/ciao/)
2. [Ciao, Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ciao)
3. [Ciao, Online Etymology Dictionary](https://www.etymonline.com/word/ciao)
4. [Ciao exclamation, Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary](https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/ciao)
5. [Treccani, Domande e Risposte: la prima apparizione di «ciao»](https://www.treccani.it/magazine/lingua_italiana/domande_e_risposte/lessico/lessico_257.html)
6. [Sabina Canobbio, "Saluto, formule di", Enciclopedia dell'Italiano, Treccani](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/formule-di-saluto_(Enciclopedia-dell'Italiano)/)
7. [Accademia della Crusca per la Scuola, sull'origine veneta di «ciao»](https://www.cruscascuola.it/download/da-roland-a-don-chisciotte-alla-scoperta-della-letteratura-in-sella-ad-un-cavallo%21/A67B6E2A-33BB-4A64-9E94-F8F36C783CDA)
8. [Schiavo, Vocabolario Treccani](https://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/schiavo/)
9. [Ciao, American Heritage Dictionary](https://www.ahdictionary.com/word/search.html?q=ciao)
10. [Massimo Arcangeli (cur.), Itabolario, voce «ciao» (pdf)](https://iris.unive.it/bitstream/10278/27946/1/Itabolario.pdf)
11. [Ciao, Collins English Dictionary](https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/ciao)
12. [Chao, Wiktionary](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/chao)
13. [Ciao Meaning: From "I Am Your Slave" to Hello and Goodbye, LingoGrove](https://lingogrove.com/ciao-meaning/)
14. [Saluto, formule di, La grammatica italiana, Treccani](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/formule-di-saluto_(La-grammatica-italiana)/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Languages and linguistics › Linguistics › Language change, history, and social variation › Etymology and word origins*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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