Etymology

halloo

H4A1L1L1O1O1

Today it means: Used to greet someone, or to catch their attention. Full definition →

Middle English hallow ← Old French haloer
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The story

  1. Old French · derived fromhaloer
  2. Middle English · inherited fromhallow“pursue, urge on”
  3. English todayhalloo

From Middle English hallow (“pursue, urge on”), from Old French haloer, which is imitative.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.