ᎣᏏᏲ
osiyo/oː˨.si˧.jo˧˨/
The English phrase 'hello' is translated into Cherokee as ᎣᏏᏲ (osiyo).
ᎣᏏᏲ is a standard, general greeting used when meeting someone.
Meaning: greeting (intj)
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is osiyo. It has 3 syllables.
Did you know?
- The Cherokee syllabary used to write ᎣᏏᏲ was created by a man named Sequoyah, who was not literate in English or any other language when he invented it.
- While ᎣᏏᏲ is a general greeting, Cherokee culture traditionally emphasizes the importance of acknowledging every person you pass on a road or trail, regardless of whether you know them.
- Cherokee is a polysynthetic language, meaning that while ᎣᏏᏲ is a simple greeting, other phrases can pack the meaning of an entire English sentence into a single word.
Example sentences for Cherokee are not verified yet.
Example conversation
Two friends meet on a sidewalk.
- AᎣᏏᏲ!Osiyo!Hello!
- BᎣᏏᏲ! ᏗᏓᏓᏓᏅᏓᏓᏅᎢ.Osiyo! Didadanvdanvdi.Hello! It's been a long time.
- AᎢᏓᏓᏅᏓᏓᏅᎢ ᎢᏓ.Idadanvdanvdi ida.It has been a long time.
- BᎣᏏᏓᎩ!Osidagi!Good!
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hello” translations and entries ᎣᏏᏲ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
