hej - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

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See also: héj

hej

  1. hey, hi (an exclamation to call attention)

Via Swedish hej (“hello, hi”), from Old Norse hei. Perhaps influenced by English hi.

hej

  1. hi, hello
  2. (less common) bye

From Polish hej, English hey, German hei, Latin heus.

hej

  1. (neologism, informal) hey

hej

  1. hi, hello

An onomatopoeia.[1]

hej

  1. oh!

  2. hey!

  3. ^ hej in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN. (See also its 2nd edition.)

Onomatopoeic. Compare Slovak hej.

hej

  1. hey (call for attention)
  2. (colloquial) hi, hey (greeting)
  3. (dialectal or, Żywiec) yeah, yep
    Synonyms: ano, tak, jo

Of exclamatory origin, similar to English hi.

hej (Cyrillic spelling хеј)

  1. hi (greeting)
  2. hey (exclamation, call for attention)

Of exclamatory origin. Compare Polish hej.

hej

  1. (colloquial) yeah, yep
    Synonym: áno
    Antonym: nie
  2. hey (exclamation)

Derived from Old Norse hei, likely from Low German hei or German hei, both from Latin hei (“oh! ah!”), of natural exclamatory origin. First attested in 1541.[1]

hej

  1. hi, hello [since 1710][1]
    Hej, vad gör du?
    Hi, what are you up to?
    (literally, “Hi, what do you?”)
    Jag sa hej till din bror i affären igår
    I said hi to your brother at the store yesterday
    • 1960, Britt Lindeborg, “Hej, mitt vinterland [Hey [or "hi / hello"], my winterland]”, in Julefrid med Carola [Christmas peace / serenity with Carola]‎[4], performed by Carola:
      Hej, mitt vinterland, nu är jag här. Nu biter frosten i min kind, ty kall är kvällen. Hej, mitt vinterland, se månen där. Den lyser kyligt trind / kring [differs between versions] på mörka himlapällen. Bjällrans klang friden stör, när vi genom skogen kör. Bofink uti grannens topp, förlåt att vi väckte dig opp. Hej, mitt vinterland, nu är jag här. Och vinter ["vintern" (definite) in some versions], håll i dig / på vinterholiday [possibly the original lyrics, then misunderstood or changed], nu blinkar stugans ljus mot mig, i mitt vita vinterland.
      Hey [or "hi / hello"], my winterland, now I am here. Now the frost bites my cheek, for the evening is cold. Hey, my winterland, look at the moon there. It shines cool and plump / coolly around ["coolly round/plump / around" – differs between versions] in the dark canopy of the sky. The sound of the [jingle] bell disturbs the peace as we ride [drive] through the forest. Chaffinch at [in] the top of the spruce, we're sorry for waking you up [sorry for that we woke you up]. Hey, my winterland, now I am here. And winter, brace yourself / on winter holiday [ad hoc], now the [Christmas, probably] lights of the cottage twinkle ["blink" – tindra (“twinkle”) is less common for electric lights in Swedish] at [toward] me, in my white winterland.
  2. (less common) bye
    Synonym: hej då
    Vi syns, hej!
    See you, bye!
    • 2023, 31:48 from the start, in Gränsbevakarna, season 2, episode 8, spoken by customs officer:
      Varsågod. Nästa gång, kolla Tullverket, okej? Så ni inte hamnar i samma situation. Hej, hej.
      You're welcome. Next time, check with Customs, okay? So you don't end up in the same situation. Bye, bye.
  3. An expression of intensity (in some expressions); hey
    Hej vad det går!
    "Hey how it (stuff, like a party) goes!"
    • 1982, Gyllene Tider, “Sommartider [Summer times]”‎[5]:
      Sommartider, hej, hej, sommartider. Ge mig din hunger, ge mig din hand. Ge mig allt du vill och allt du kan. Sommartider, hej, hej, sommartider. Läppar mot läppar som tar mig i land. Som ger sommartider till varann.
      Summer times, hey, hey, summer times. Give me your hunger, give me your hand. Give me everything that you want and everything that you can. Summer times, hey, hey, summer times. Lips against lips, that take me ashore. That give summer times to each other.
  4. A filler, in some expressions; hey [since 1849][1]
    • 1970, “Kalle Teodor”, Astrid Lindgren (lyrics), Georg Riedel (music)‎[6]:
      Men en stormnatt kan du höra nån som ropar: Hej hå! Ifrån havets djup det kommer, och det låter så: Hej hå! Hej hå!
      But on a stormy night you can hear someone calling: Hey ho! From the ocean depths ["the sea's depth(s)" – intuitively "depth," though the plural is identical – singular is idiomatic in "dras ner i djupet" (be pulled into the depths [depth]), for example] it comes, and it sounds like that: Hey ho! Hey ho! [Or "and it sounds like so," but that is an idiomatic way of saying "and it sounds like that," whereas "and it sounds like this" would normally be put as "och det låter så här." The official lyrics have a colon.]
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 “hej”, in Svenska Akademiens ordbok [Dictionary of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)