hei (Finnish)
Where does "hei" come from?
The Finnish interjection 'hei' originates from the Proto-Finnic form '*hei'[1]. This expression serves multiple functions across the language, used both as a greeting and a way to attract attention, and it is also commonly repeated as 'hei hei' to signal a farewell. Cognates for this word are found throughout various Finnic languages such as Estonian, Karelian, and Veps, while similar exclamations appear in Germanic languages like Old Norse, Swedish, and English.
Open questions
- The reconstructed Proto-Finnic form '*hei' is an unattested linguistic hypothesis. [1]
Full etymology tree
- hei (Finnish), 'hi (greeting)'
- inherited *hei (Proto-Finnic)
Cognates and doublets
- hey (English)
- hei (Ingrian)
- hej (Swedish)
Descendants and derived words
- hei hei (Finnish)
- hei-huuto (Finnish)
- heippa (Finnish)
- hihhei (Finnish)
Sources
Updated August 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris