The commonest modern English greetings are not found in Shakespearean English: hello and hi did not enter the language until the 19th century; and although expressions with how are widespread, they are generally different in form. Greetings may also be different in range of application: good even, for example, might be said any time after noon.
A greeting with an enquiry about health or well-being, or an expression of pleasure at meeting
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A greeting with a divine invocation
A greeting for a time of day
| Keyword |
Location |
Example |
| dawning |
KL II.ii.1 |
Good dawning to thee, friend |
| day |
Tim I.i.1 |
Good day, sir |
| day |
Tim III.iv.6 |
Good day at once [= to one and all] |
| day |
Tim III.vi.1 |
The good time of day to you, sir |
| morrow |
Ham V.i.81 |
Good morrow, sweet lord! |
| morrow |
MW II.iii.19 |
Give you good morrow, sir |
| morrow |
MW II.ii.32 |
Give your worship good morrow |
| morrow |
RJ II.iv.106 |
God ye good-morrow, gentlemen |
| even [= evening] |
AYL V.i.13 |
Good even, Audrey |
| even [= evening] |
AYL V.i.14 |
God ye good even, William |
| even [= evening] |
MW II.i.182 |
Good even and twenty, good Master Page [i.e. twenty times over] |
| even [= evening] |
RJ I.ii.56 |
Good-e’en, good fellow |
| even [= evening] |
RJ I.ii.57 |
God gi' good-e'en |
| even [= evening] |
LLLIV.i.42 |
God dig-you-den all! |
| even [= evening] |
KJ I.i.185 |
Good den, Sir Richard |
A greeting to monarchs
Some of these expressions are also used in leave-taking: 
FAREWELLS