もしもし (moshi moshi) is a familiar way to say “hello” on a phone call or check that someone can hear you. It can also call out to someone in person, though it is not a general face-to-face greeting. It comes from もうしもうし, related to 申す.
from moshimoshi / 申し申し / 申す
hello — on the phone · excuse me · are you there?
Sentences
もしもし · answering
polite、。
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もしもし
もしもし ［1］
hello — on the phone
interjection · from 申し申し, and it belongs to the telephone
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田中
たなか
Tanaka
surname · Japanese calls name the speaker straight away
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です
です
it is; this is
copula · 〜です is how you identify yourself on a call
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Hello? This is Tanaka.
もしもし？ · checking the line
polite？？
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もしもし
もしもし ［1］
are you there?
interjection · rising, to check a line that has gone quiet
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聞こえます
きこえます
can be heard
polite 聞こえる · a spontaneous potential — it reaches you or it doesn't
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か
か
question marker
particle · closes the question
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Hello? Can you hear me?
もしもし、〜ですか · asking who it is
polite、？
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もしもし
もしもし ［1］
hello
interjection · opening a call you have placed
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田中
たなか
Tanaka
surname · with さん, because it is somebody else's
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さん
さん
Mr; Ms — the neutral title
suffix · never used about yourself
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です
です
is — polite
copula · polite frame for the question
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か
か
question marker
particle · makes it a question
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Hello — is that Mr Tanaka?
はい、〜でございます · the business answer
polite、。
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はい
はい
yes; speaking
interjection · this replaces もしもし on a business line
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山田
やまだ
Yamada
surname · here part of the company name
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商事
しょうじ
trading company
noun · a common ending for a firm's name
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でございます
でございます
this is — humble polite
humble copula · the most formal of です, standard on a business line
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Hello, this is Yamada Trading.
お世話になっております · what comes next
polite。
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いつも
いつも ［1］
always
adverb · fixed part of the greeting, whether or not it is literally true
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お世話
おせわ
care; assistance
noun · the お is honorific, and cannot be dropped here
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に
に
to; at; into
particle · a point something reaches — a place, a time, a person, or a state
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なっております
なっております
am being — humble progressive
humble おる ＋ ている · the business register's default verb
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Hello — thank you for your continued support.
失礼します · hanging up
polite。。
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ありがとうございました
ありがとうございました
thank you very much
past polite of ありがとう · past because the favour is complete
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失礼
しつれい ［2］
excuse me; I take my leave
noun · literally a discourtesy, offered in advance
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します
します
do — polite
polite する · 失礼します is the set closing
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Thank you very much. Goodbye.
Forms
もしもし
Answering a call, or opening one. Casual to neutral — fine with friends and family, and increasingly skipped even there now that phones show a name.
もしもし＋？
Rising, to check the line: are you still there? This use survives even where the greeting use has faded.
もしもし＋Name ＋ です
Identifying yourself straight after. Japanese phone calls name the speaker early and often — the caller usually names themselves first.
Company ＋ でございます
The business answer, and もしもし does not appear in it. The company name comes first, then お世話になっております.
Meaning
もしもし is 申す — the humble verb to say — doubled. It developed from もうしもうし, roughly I am about to speak, used to get a stranger's attention, and it moved to the telephone. The dictionary records the older in-person call as well as telephone use.
It is chiefly a phone greeting. Walking up to someone and saying もしもし is not a greeting — at best it reads as calling out to a stranger you think has dropped something. The in-person words are すみません to get attention and こんにちは to greet.
On a business call, do not say it. The convention is the company name and then お世話になっております. There is a widely repeated explanation that a shortened word is impolite to a superior; whether or not that is the real history, the practice is settled — もしもし sounds like a private call in an office.
It is quietly fading. A phone that shows who is calling has removed most of the work the word did, and younger speakers often answer with a name, a はい, or nothing at all. The one use in no danger is the rising もしもし？ into a silent line.
Inside the word
The humble verb for saying, still everywhere in polite Japanese: 田中と申します, my name is Tanaka. もしもし is もうしもうし shortened, and the older use called for someone's attention in person.
Dictionaries trace もしもし to the doubled もうしもうし. The precise historical reason for the repetition is less certain than the word's recorded in-person and telephone uses.
The fall lands after the first も, and the second half stays low — not two equal halves, which is the usual learner's guess. Rising at the end turns it from a greeting into are you still there?
Watch out
It is not a general hello. Said to someone in front of you it can read as hailing a stranger — the way you might call after someone who dropped a glove. To get attention, すみません; to greet, こんにちは.
The convention is the company name, then お世話になっております. もしもし in that slot sounds like a personal call taken at a desk. Use it for friends and family, and drop it entirely at work.
さようなら carries a sense of parting for a long time and is oddly heavy at the end of a phone call. 失礼します is the standard, with ありがとうございました before it if there was anything to thank them for.
Also asked
Hello, on the telephone. It comes from 申し申し — the humble verb 申す, to say, doubled — and originally meant something like I am about to speak, used to get a stranger's attention.
The word comes from the repeated もうしもうし, a call for attention. Stories about early telephone lines or fox spirits do not establish why the repetition began.
Yes, to call out to someone, though it is not a general greeting. Face to face it reads as calling out to a stranger rather than as a greeting. Use すみません to get someone's attention and こんにちは to say hello.
Not in itself, but it is out of place on a business call, where the convention is the company name followed by お世話になっております. With friends and family it is perfectly normal — though many people now simply answer with a name.
At home, often はい and then their surname: はい、田中です. At work, the company name with でございます, then お世話になっております. もしもし turns up most reliably now when a line has gone quiet.
もしもし, accent ［1］ — the drop comes right after the first も and the rest stays low, rather than the two even halves most learners produce. A rising ending turns it into are you there?
References
Digital Daijisen, もしもし — Defines both calling to someone and starting a phone conversation; gives derivation.
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