Motion diagram. A Deaf-recorded clip from the PopSign corpus (CC BY 4.0) exists for this sign and can be placed here.
HELLO
“hello”
Touch a flat hand to your forehead and move it out and away, like a relaxed salute.
Where the sign comes from
UnknownNo reliable source. We'd rather say so than invent one.
It looks like a salute, and is usually taught as one. We have not found a source that documents the origin, so the resemblance stays a resemblance.
No sources — which is the point of the “unknown” tier. If you know of a documented account, the historical databases are where to check it.
The sign, taken apart
Every ASL sign is built from a handshape, a place it's made, and a movement. Learn to see these three and you can read and store any sign.
Moves from the forehead to the neutral space.
One-handed.
Palm facing out.