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  1. ciao love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. interj. Used to express greeting or farewell.

Wiktionary

  1. interj. hello, hi (especially US), howdy (US).
  2. interj. bye, goodbye.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. an acknowledgment that can be used to say hello or goodbye (aloha is Hawaiian and ciao is Italian)

Etymologies

  1. From Italian ciao ("hello, goodbye"), from Venetian ciao ("hello, goodbye, your (humble) servant"), from Venetian s-ciao / s-ciavo ("servant, slave"), from Medieval Latin sclavus ("Slav, slave"), related also to Italian schiavo, English Slav, slave and Old Venetian S-ciavón ("Slav"), from Latin Sclavonia ("Slavonia"). (Wiktionary)
  2. Italian, from dialectal ciau, alteration of Italian (sono vostro) schiavo, (I am your) servant, from Medieval Latin sclavus, slave, servant; see slave. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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synonyms (19)

Words with the same meaning

  1. aloha
  2. au revoir
  3. adios
  1. goodbye
  2. cheerio
  3. addio
  1. sayonara
  2. arrivederci
  3. auf Wiedersehen
  1. bye
  2. so long
  3. good-bye
  1. good day
  2. farewell
  3. shalom
  1. good-by
  2. cheers
  3. adieu
  1. bye-bye

hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. acknowledgment
  1. acknowledgement

same context (5)

Words that are found in similar contexts

  1. mia!ciao
  1. TNT
  1. titty
  1. scusa
  1. tough

rhymes (61)

Words with the same terminal sound

  1. Bilbao
  2. Bow
  3. Chao
  4. Chow
  5. Dow
  6. Frau
  7. Howe
  8. Lao
  9. Liao
  10. Macao
  11. Macau
  12. Mao
  1. Mindanao
  2. Plough
  3. Plow
  4. Qingdao
  5. Tao
  6. Yao
  7. allow
  8. avow
  9. bao
  10. bough
  11. bow
  12. brough
  1. brow
  2. chow
  3. clough
  4. cow
  5. disallow
  6. disavow
  7. dow
  8. endow
  9. fao
  10. frau
  11. gow
  12. hao
  1. hau
  2. how
  3. howe
  4. kowtow
  5. lough
  6. mao
  7. meow
  8. now
  9. ow
  10. plough
  11. plow
  12. pow
  1. powe
  2. prow
  3. sao
  4. scow
  5. shough
  6. skow
  7. sow
  8. tao
  9. thao
  10. thou
  11. vow
  12. wow
  1. yow

reverse dictionary (2)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. Aloha
  1. ciao

tags (2)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. weirdnet
  1. cvvv

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Wordmap

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Word visualization

Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘ciao’.

Comments

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  • reesetee Ciao, sionnach. Dec 16, 2008

  • sionnach I find the claim that marzipan is derived from Venetian hard to believe, Roderick Conway Morris notwithstanding.

    The claim for artichoke is equally dubious. The etymological dictionary online tells us that:

    1531, from articiocco, Northern It. variant of It. arcicioffo, from O.Sp. alcarchofa, from Ar. al-kharshof "artichoke."

    suggesting that Venice was only a way station along a longer etymological pathway.

    ballot holds up as Venetian, but sequin only partially:

    1617, name of a former Italian and Turkish gold coin, from Fr. sequin, from It. zecchino, from zecca "a mint," from Ar. sikkah "a minting die." Meaning "ornamental disc or spangle" is first recorded 1882, from resemblance to a gold coin.

    ghetto is murky -

    1611, from It. ghetto "part of a city to which Jews are restricted," various theories of its origin include: Yiddish get "deed of separation;" special use of Venetian getto "foundry" (there was one near the site of that city's ghetto in 1516); Egitto "Egypt," from L. Aegyptus (presumably in memory of the exile); or It. borghetto "small section of a town" (dim. of borgo, of Gmc. origin, see borough). Extended 1892 to crowded urban quarters of other minority groups.

    lotto is traceable to the old English 'hlot'.
    imbroglio to the middle French word 'brouiller'

    Methinks that Roderick Conway Morris is not to be trusted. I can't be bothered to check the others. Dec 15, 2008

  • Telofy You can't negate implications like that. ^^
    That "ciao" is "a statement acknowledging something or someone" does not necessarily mean that any statement acknowledging something or someone is a ciao. Only for bijective relations both such statements would be true, respectively, it would be a bijective relation if both statements were true.

    Ciao. Dec 15, 2008

  • bilby Ciao reesetee. Dec 13, 2008

  • reesetee Never mind the Hawaiian; look at the second definition. That would mean that nearly all of our comments here on Wordie are...uh...ciaos. Dec 12, 2008

  • bilby Hello? Goodbye? Dec 12, 2008

  • kewpid I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello. Dec 12, 2008

  • bilby You say goodbye, I say hello. Dec 12, 2008

  • vanishedone Why is WeirdNet bringing Hawaiian into this?

    T.L.S.: 'English words borrowed from Venetian include artichoke, arsenal, ballot, casino, contraband, gazette, ghetto, imbroglio, gondola, lagoon, lido, lotto, marzipan, pantaloon, pistachio, quarantine, regatta, scampi, sequin and zany. “Ciao�? – a long-standing contraction of the courteous Venetian salutation “vostro schiavo�? (your humble servant) – has now become a global greeting.' Dec 12, 2008

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‘ciao’ has been looked up 4673 times, added to 15 lists, commented on 9 times, and has a Scrabble score of 6.