Australian Slang For Goodbye (10 Examples!)

Greetings and farewells are an area of language ripe for slang.

We use them every day, and it’s something that’s particularly important to add a bit of uniqueness and emotion to.

Depending on the context, saying goodbye can be really sad!

In Australia this is just as true as anywhere else, so today, we’re going to look at some examples of Australian slang for goodbye.

So, let’s get started.

In This Article

Hooroo

Let’s start with one that is both classically and instantly recognizable as Australian: hooroo!

This one you won’t hear outside of Australia, and if you’re at all familiar with Australian slang, the construction of this one will seem familiar to you.

They love words with -oo. This one had largely fallen out of use up until the middle of the 2010s, where it saw a bit of a resurgence.

The origin of the term is actually quite clear to see. It began as far back as the 1700s, when Australia was a British colony.

Here, at the time, “hooray” or “hurray” was used to mean goodbye.

The original peak usage of the Australian “hooroo” was around the 1850s, and it slowly declined over the next 150 years.

This is a great and entirely unique piece of Australian slang.

Take it easy

Australia has its fair share of borrowed slang terms, too, such as this one.

But there’s no doubt that this kind of term has particular traction in Australia, as they are deeply fond of this kind of friendliness.

It comes really naturally to most Australians. “Take it easy,” then, is one you’re far more likely to hear in Australia today.

This one you may hear in the US, too, but you’re not very likely to hear it in common usage in the UK or many other English-speaking nations.

It’s harder to say with any precision when this phrase became adopted in Australia, though it’s likely that it took hold in the middle of the 20^th Century.

Hollywood movies played a huge role in propagating what started as Americanisms across the world.

See ya

We have another classic all-rounder here, but again, one that is most certainly uniquely Australian in its usage there, too.

Again, it’s all but impossible to trace the origin of a phrase like this, which almost certainly began being used in environments where it was not likely to be recorded in historical times.

Again, Australians are especially fond of this one, and you can expect to hear it a great deal if you’re ever in Australia.

It’s one of the more “efficient” farewells, working really well for quick interactions and other informal but unfamiliar settings. In written form, you might also see this as “cya”.

See ya round like a rissole

Now, this one has fallen more or less completely out of fashion nowadays.

You’re very unlikely to hear this one very often, but it’s nonetheless another really interesting and totally uniquely Australian.

As you can see, this is kind of a variation on ‘see ya’—with some extra steps added.

This one is an old-school piece of slang, having its origins somewhere in the outback slang in the middle of the 19^th Century.

Again, it’s harder to trace precisely when we have so little written record to go on.

But Australians today, particularly those in the outback, do still use it from time to time.

A rissole is a type of food—a small, round patty enclosed in pastry or breadcrumbs, baked or deep fried.

They are small and round—thus, see you “around”—as in, I’ll see you in the future, around here—like a rissole.

Cheers

Australian slang loves to borrow from UK slang just as much as American, and this is where “cheers” seems to originate for their lexicon.

This one is really quite a recent addition, too, relatively speaking. In 1976, it was noted by a newspaper journalist in the UK that “cheers” had become the unofficial colloquial slang term for thank you and goodbye.

Australian slang soon picked it up, again by and large from movies, television shows, and migrants.

Today, this is a great all-purpose farewell, because it can, as I say, indicate “thank you” as well.

So, it’s really good for short interactions in shops and things like that. “Cheers, now!” for example would be a really Australian way of saying goodbye.

Ta-ta

This one will sound totally alien to American English speakers.

This is another one that came to Australia through the English.

But even for the British today, this one might seem a bit overly posh for even the finest of occasions.

In Australia, though, it’s more of an informal farewell.

Our first recorded use of the term comes from 1823, where it was called a nursery saying by an English dictionary.

In fact, in British English it has now largely developed into “ta”, which is simply an expression of thanks.

Australians adopted the term shortly after the British, and it’s still in much more common use in Australia today than it is in the UK.

Have a good one/ gooden

This one is perhaps one of the most likely you are to hear while in Australia.

Again, this isn’t exactly unique to Australian English, but it is in usage across Australia, whereas it is more of a regional colloquialism in the UK.

It’s a variation of “have a good day”, “one” meaning day here. You might also simply say “have a gooden”, shortening it down to one word.

Some rumors suggest it was a phrase born out of the drug culture of the 1960s, where you would be told to “have a good one”, as in a good trip.

However, it’s more likely that it was a simple natural evolution of have a good day.

The earliest example we see of this phrase in print comes from a newspaper ad in 1976.

Today, it’s a really common slang term in Australia.

Cheerio

Again we have another term that originated in British slang, was ultimately adopted by Australians who now use it far more often than the British do.

It was used very commonly as an upbeat farewell at least as far back as the late 19^th Century, and no doubt considerably further back than that. It went through a few changes, from cheero to cheerio.

Its precise origin is unclear, though it has been in commonplace use in Australia for a very long time now.

You’re quite likely to hear this one in certain settings, and in fact probably far more likely than you are to hear it in its place of origin, the UK.

If someone says cheerio to you in Australia, they aren’t talking about breakfast cereal!

Catch you later

A lot of what we perceive as commonplace Australian slang has its origin in the thriving surfing culture the country nurtures.

This is where the phrase “catch you later” was largely popularized, both in Australia and the US.

As far as we know, though, the phrase’s true origin is a bit further back, being used by farmers in the middle of the 20^th Century as a farewell at the end of a night of drinking.

It quickly caught on in Australia and became a common farewell and is still one of the most commonly used today.

Given its wide usage elsewhere, you shouldn’t have much trouble understanding what the meaning is!

Keep it real

This one has dual meanings, and again became a common fixture of surfing culture and still is today. “Keeping it real”, on the one hand, means to stay authentic, to be your true self with people.

Naturally, this became a way of saying goodbye—while I’m gone, you should “keep it real”.

Again, this one is unfortunately too much a colloquialism to be able to trace its true origin.

However, usage seems to spike from the 1980s, when it was used in music and film a great deal more.

Again, you might only expect to hear this from a certain kind of person in Australia, but you will no doubt hear it nonetheless!

No doubt, then, there are plenty of ways to say goodbye to someone in Australian slang.

The Australians are some of the more casual talkers on a general level, and this lends itself to a lot of different versions of any basic phrase.

It also means they end up borrowing just about any useful slang they can, which then ends up getting adapted somehow.

This is very true of goodbye!

More in Australian Slang

Founder - @PollyWebster

Polly Webster is the founder of Foreign Lingo and a seasoned traveler with a decade of exploration under her belt.

Over the past 10 years, she has journeyed to numerous countries around the globe, immersing herself in diverse cultures, traditions, and languages.

Drawing from her rich experiences, Polly now writes insightful articles about travel, languages, traditions, and cultures, sharing her unique perspectives and invaluable tips with her readers.

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