A spoken greeting (often imprecisely called a verbal greeting) is a customary or ritualised word or phrase used to introduce oneself or to greet someone. Greeting habits are highly culture- and situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status.

In English, some common verbal greetings are:

• "Hello", "hi", and "Hey" — General verbal greetings. The latter two are less formal. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first citation of "hey" is found as early as 1225, and is defined as "a call to attract attention . . . an exclamation to express exultation . . . or surprise." "Hey"'s often used stand-in, "Hi", is actually much newer, having become popular in the 1920s. Many languages use the word as a greeting, though a variety of spellings exist, including "hei". Finnish custom dictates the use of "hey, hey" to mean a warm goodbye.
• "Good morning", "good afternoon", "good evening" — More formal verbal greetings used at the appropriate time of day. Note that the similar "good night" and "good day" are more commonly used as phrases of parting rather than greeting, although in Australian English "G'Day" is a very common greeting.
• "What's up?", "How's it going?" and "What's happening?" — informal greetings used frequently

Verbal greetings in other languages may also be found at common phrases in different languages.