{"id":8790,"date":"2022-09-15T03:56:21","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T03:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=8790"},"modified":"2022-09-15T03:56:21","modified_gmt":"2022-09-15T03:56:21","slug":"ciao-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/ciao-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Ciao \u2013 Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Did a friend just say <strong><em>\u2018ciao\u2019 <\/em><\/strong>instead of goodbye to you? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p>The expression <em>\u2018ciao\u2019<\/em> is a <u>farewell or welcoming greeting used as a pleasantry in conversation.<\/u> You can say it when <u>greeting a friend or saying goodbye to them. <\/u>It\u2019s a flexible greeting <u>akin to \u2018<em>hello<\/em>\u2019 and \u2018<em>goodbye<\/em>\u2019 in English.<\/u><\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll use <em>\u2018Ciao\u2019<\/em> when <u>greeting friends and family,<\/u> and <u>not in formal situations.<\/u> \u2018<em>Ciao<\/em>\u2019 is a casual greeting, and it\u2019s <u>not suitable for professional communications.<\/u> However, \u2018ciao\u2019 isn\u2019t a word you want to use around older generations of Italians, as it has a <u>dark history with the Italian people.<\/u><\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cOk, I have to head to the mall to pick something up I ordered from a retailer. I\u2019ll catch up with you later. Have a great day. Ciao.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCiao Bella, it\u2019s nice to see such a beautiful woman walk into my office. How can I help you today, my dear.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to head home. It\u2019s been a great evening, and we had a lot of fun. That\u2019s for the food, drinks, and hospitality. Ciao.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOk, let me know when you get there. Travel safe, and remember to use your headlights on the mountain when it gets misty. Ciao.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCiao. Welcome to my humble abode. Is there anything I can offer you to drink? We have coffee, juice, or whisky if you\u2019re feeling frisky.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThanks for coming. It was great hanging out with you all again. I can\u2019t wait until next time. Ciao.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s time for me to leave. This has been fun, but I have to attend an important appointment in the city. Take care, everybody, ciao.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCiao. Welcome to my hotel. It\u2019s a pleasure to accommodate you all this evening. You\u2019ll find fresh towels in the bathroom if any of you need to shower, and room service is available.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8792\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ciao.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"236\" height=\"177\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone  wp-image-8793\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Ciao2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"228\" height=\"177\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The expression \u2018ciao\u2019 originates from the Italian language. The word comes from the Venetian dialect, with the phrase \u2018s-ci\u00e0o vostro\u2019 meaning \u2018I am your slave.\u2019 Over the years, the phrase shortened to \u2018s-ci\u00e0o\u2019 and retained the same meaning.<\/p>\n<p>The connotation of the phrase in the Venetian dialect is more akin to \u2018I am at your service.\u2019 However, the saying eventually evolved into the word \u2018slave\u2019 in the Italian language. Therefore, caio isn\u2019t the lighthearted welcome and farewell greeting we think it is. Instead, it\u2019s a form of slave language used to oppress others.<\/p>\n<p>Older generations of Italians see \u2018ciao\u2019 as a formal greeting and not to be used in social conversations. Many older generations harbor these feelings, but the younger generations no longer hold these memories, impacting the meaning of ciao into a standard greeting.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Ciao Meaning\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/z6gQ_47zMhw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Ciao<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Salve.<\/li>\n<li>Buongiorno.<\/li>\n<li>Buon pomeriggio.<\/li>\n<li>Buona sera.<\/li>\n<li>Arrivederci.<\/li>\n<li>ArrivederLa.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Ciao<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>N\/A.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Ciao.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Ciao Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>Interestingly, it\u2019s not polite to use \u2018ciao\u2019 when speaking to an Italian person. Since the word has former slave connotations, Italians in the older generations would find the use of \u2018ciao\u2019 offensive. In essence, you\u2019re using the language of the enslaved people, and some Italians may find this highly offensive.<\/p>\n<p>However, times and culture are changing, and in a few generations, we imagine the word \u2018ciao\u2019 will no longer hold its negative connotation to the Italian people.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Ciao<\/h2>\n<p>You can use \u2018ciao\u2019 as a welcoming or farewell greeting. It\u2019s a universally understood term by most English speakers. \u2018Ciao\u2019 can mean both hello and goodbye, and it\u2019s a common greeting used by people with no Italian heritage, hence its global use and understanding by non-Italian speaking people.<\/p>\n<p>You can use \u2018ciao\u2019 in verbal conversations and text-based communications. The greeting also suits social and professional use. However, you wouldn\u2019t use it in formal communications. You could say goodbye to a work college using \u2018ciao,\u2019 or you could use it to say goodbye or hello to a friend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Did a friend just say \u2018ciao\u2019 instead of goodbye to you? This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this expression. Meaning The expression \u2018ciao\u2019 is a farewell or welcoming greeting used as a pleasantry in conversation. You can say it when greeting a friend or saying goodbye to them. It\u2019s a flexible greeting akin [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8790"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8790"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8795,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8790\/revisions\/8795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}