Ciao Meaning: One Small Word for Hi and Bye

What ciao means in Italian and in English

In Italy, ciao does double duty. You say it as you walk into a friend's kitchen, and you say it again as you leave an hour later. Context tells everyone which one you mean, much like "cheers" can be thanks or goodbye in British English.

In English, ciao is used far more often as a farewell than as a hello. Someone ending a phone call, a message or a casual email might sign off with "Ciao for now." It sounds relaxed, a little worldly, and slightly playful. Using it as a hello in English is understood but less common.

How to say it

Say CHOW, one quick syllable, the same sound as "chow" in "chow down" or the start of "ouch" with a ch in front. The letters "ci" before a vowel in Italian make a ch sound, and the i itself is silent. It is not "see-ow" or "kee-ow."

Italians often double it for warmth or speed: ciao ciao is a cheerful "bye bye," and you hear it a lot at the end of phone calls.

When to use it, and when not to

Ciao belongs to the familiar side of Italian. Use it with:

• friends, relatives and children
• classmates and colleagues you know well
• people your own age in relaxed places such as cafes

Avoid it with a shop owner you have never met, an older stranger, a teacher, an official or a client in a formal meeting. There, Italians would say buongiorno or buonasera on arrival and arrivederci or arrivederla on leaving. Starting with ciao to a stranger is not rude exactly, but it can sound too familiar, a bit like greeting your bank manager with "hey there."

Ciao meaning and its surprising history

The word comes from the Venetian dialect of northeastern Italy. There, a polite greeting was s-ciào vostro, roughly "I am your servant" (literally "your slave"). It was a courteous way of saying "at your service," not a literal statement. The Venetian word for slave came from Medieval Latin sclavus, the same source as English "slave."

Over time the phrase was cut down to ciào, and the servile meaning faded completely. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries it spread from Venice across northern Italy and then the whole country, and English writers took it up from about the 1920s. A similar path from "your servant" to a plain greeting happened with "servus" in parts of central Europe.

Common phrases with ciao

• Ciao bella: "hi (or bye), beautiful," said to a woman or girl. Among friends it is affectionate; from a stranger on the street it can come across as unwanted.
• Ciao bello: the same, said to a man or boy.
• Ciao a tutti: "hi everyone," handy at the start of a group message.
• Ciao ciao: "bye bye."
• Ciao for now: an English mix meaning "bye for now."

For more borrowed greetings like namaste and shalom, see our greetings hub, or the Arabic term of affection habibi.

Ciao in other languages

The word travelled well beyond Italy, often with new spellings. Spanish speakers in much of Latin America say chao for goodbye, Portuguese speakers in Brazil write tchau, and German speakers in some regions use tschau. In most of these places it has kept the friendly, casual feel, but it usually means only "bye," not "hi."

This is a good reminder that a borrowed word can change its job when it moves. Italian ciao is two-way; many of its cousins abroad are one-way.

Ciao in sentences

• "Okay, I'm heading to the station now. Ciao."
• She ended the voice note with a cheerful "ciao ciao."
• "Ciao, Marco, did you bring the charger?"
• He signed off the group chat with "Ciao a tutti, see you Sunday."

In English writing, ciao is usually printed in normal type, not italics, because it is now an accepted loanword.