Heya or hiya?
heya is a noun meaning “the so-called "stable" of rikishi who train under the instruction of a…”; hiya is an interjection meaning “An informal greeting, hi, hello”. Use heya as a noun and hiya as an interjection. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) hiya is about 4.5 times as common as heya.
What is the difference between heya and hiya?
| heya | hiya | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, interjection | interjection |
| Meaning | the so-called "stable" of rikishi who train under the instruction of a particular shisho; the place where this group lives and trains | An informal greeting, hi, hello A kiai, shouted as a limb is swung in attack |
| Example | none recorded | Hiya, love, how's you? |
| Forms | none | hi-ya, hia, hiyah, heya hi-ya, hiyah, hi-yah, haiya |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /ˈhaɪ(j)ə/ |
| In writing | about once in every 3 million words | 1.3 times per million words |
Sources: heya and hiya in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of heya and hiya
heya
- 1
the so-called "stable" of rikishi who train under the instruction of a particular shisho; the place where this group lives and trains
- 2
Alternative form of hiya
hiya
- 1
An informal greeting, hi, hello
Hiya, love, how's you?
- 2
A kiai, shouted as a limb is swung in attack
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, heya or hiya?
heya appears about once in every 3 million words; hiya 1.3 times per million words.
heya about once in every 3 million wordshiya 1.3 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).