Australian Slang For Hello (Helpful Content!)

The most common Australian slang greeting is the famous “g’day” or “g’day mate”. This one is used throughout the country and by all age groups. Other than this, Australians will employ all kinds of generic English greetings, like “hey,” “hi” or even “howdy”. Younger Australians may use terms such as “yo”.

Greetings are naturally a vital part of virtually everyone’s daily language.

We all need to use them pretty much every day, whether it’s warm greetings for a friend or just a simple hello to someone on the street.

Australians are really friendly and polite in this way, and thus have many different ways to greet each other.

Let’s find out more.

In This Article

How do Australians say hello?

Australians say hello in a variety of different ways.

Let’s start off with a very common and perhaps the most quintessentially, even stereotypically Australian slang term for hello: “g’day” or sometimes “g’day mate”.

This is used to some extent throughout the country, and it’s certainly recognized internationally as a typical Australian greeting.

While it is perhaps not as widely used as its reputation might suggest, Australians certainly do use this slang phrase very naturally in many cases.

Many Australians would suggest it is used more commonly in certain, more rural territories.

“G’day mate, how’s it going?” for example.

Beyond this, most slang terms that Australians use to say hello are also quite likely to be heard elsewhere in the English speaking world.

The most common are typical colloquial terms like “hey” or “hi”.

These are used throughout the country by virtually everyone to some extent.

It’s not as if you will find an English speaking Australian who doesn’t know these words.

Of course, the word “hello” itself is also just as widely used and you’re just as likely to hear this as anything else.

“Howdy” is sometimes used, though as you might expect this is more common in America.

That said, it is far from unheard of in Australia, and again many in rural areas do tend to favor this greeting.

Don’t count on it being used, but everyone will certainly understand this term perfectly fine.

Beyond these terms, there are many that are much more likely to be used by the younger generations than anyone else.

These include terms like “yo,” again something generally considered to be an Americanism but which is certainly used to a large extent by Australian youth.

Similar terms such as “what’s up” are also often used by younger Australians.

Where do we get all these terms, then?

Why do Australians say “g’day mate”?

As you can probably guess, “g’day” is simply an abbreviation of the phrase “good day”.

Importantly, though, this term is not exclusively something you would say during the “day”.

It is perhaps most common in the morning, and may even be a stand-in for a phrase like “good morning”.

It has the sense of “have a good day” rather than “it is a good day”.

Not that most Australians micro-analyze the sense of the greeting, though—they just use it!

It’s not really clear when this term started being used, but Australians do have a habit of using abbreviations as slang.

So, this term is probably quite old, perhaps dating as far back as the 19^th Century—we just don’t know for sure.

Why do Australians say “hey”?

“Hey” is a very old and very common term in the English speaking world, so this is the simple answer for why Australians use it—because most English speaking countries do!

It can have different senses depending on where you are and how it’s used, though, so it’s worth being a little bit careful.

Indeed, when it was first used in the 13^th Century, it was considered a call implying a challenge or anger.

It doesn’t generally hold this sense in Australia.

It’s just a simple greeting. “Hey mate, how’s it going?” for example.

Do Australians say “howdy”?

There are certainly some Australians that say howdy, though they are not really in the majority.

As mentioned, it is more often considered to be an Americanism than anything else.

It’s much more associated with the American south.

That said, Australians will still all know what it means, they just might be less likely to use it themselves.

As mentioned, if an Australian does use it, they are more likely to be a rural Australian than someone who lives in the city.

How else do Australians say hello?

Beyond these terms, the most common greetings you’ll hear are among the younger generations.

Again, many of these have been inherited from other countries, but common greetings you’ll hear used by younger people in Australia include terms like “yo” or “what’s up”.

Many older Australians may roll their eyes at what they perceive, again, to be Americanisms, but for better or worse they are becoming a lot more common among younger people in Australia.

That said, traditional Australian greetings like “g’day” are not as of yet under any immediate danger of being supplanted by these more modern words.

So, there are plenty of ways to say hello in Australia. For the most part, the particular word that a particular person chooses is largely just down to their personal preference.

There are certainly important differences between disparate regions of Australia, and perhaps “g’day mate” is more stereotypical than in actual use when you take Australia as a whole.

Nevertheless, it certainly is used alongside many other slang terms for hello.

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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