This article is about the social act. For the Nami Tamaki album, see Greeting (album). For the McCoy Tyner album, see The Greeting. For the Brian De Palma film, see Greetings (film).

Translations of the word welcome are often shown in many places frequented by foreigners or tourists, such as airports and hotels, to welcome people of all different nationalities.

Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings (as well as other members of the animal kingdom) intentionally make their presence known to each other, to show attention to, and to suggest a type of relationship or social status between individuals or groups of people coming in contact with each other. While greeting customs are highly culture- and situation-specific and may change within a culture depending on social status and relationship, they exist in all known human cultures. Greetings can be expressed both audibly and physically, and often involve a combination of the two. This topic excludes military and ceremonialsalutes but includes rituals other than gestures.

Greetings are often, but not always, used just prior to a conversation.

Some epochs and cultures have had very elaborate greeting rituals, e.g., greeting of a king.

Secret societies have clandestine greeting rituals that allow members to recognize common membership.