niltze
The English word 'hello' is translated into Nahuatl as niltze or panoltih.
Meaning: greeting (intj)
Ways to say it
| Nahuatl |
|---|
| niltze |
| panoltih |
Both niltze and panoltih are used as interjections to express a greeting.
Did you know?
- In many Nahuatl-speaking communities, a greeting is not just a 'hello' but a way to acknowledge someone's presence in the shared world. The phrase can sometimes imply 'I see you' or 'you are here'.
- In the Aztec Empire, the way you said 'hello' acted as a social marker, with specific structures used to indicate the social rank of the person you were addressing.
- Because Nahuatl is an agglutinative language, a greeting like niltze can be expanded with various prefixes and suffixes to fundamentally shift its tone or meaning.
Examples in context
- ¡Niltze, nicniuh! ¿Quen tica?Hello, my friend! How are you?This example shows how to use niltze in a greeting.Tatoeba #3192883 by cueyayotl, translation #3528985 by Lakeseayesno
Example conversation
Yolanda and Juan meet on the street.
- YolandaNiltze, Juan.Hello, Juan.
- JuanNiltze, Yolanda.Hello, Yolanda.
- Yolanda¿Quen tica?How are you?
- JuanCualli, tlazohztla.Good, thank you.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “hello” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
