Components

Point of interest: もしもし

POI
もしもし  hello (on phone)
129 words
もしもし is the most common way of answering the phone. It may also used partway through a call, as in
もしもし、
こえますか can you (still) hear me?
The origin of the expression is the humble form of
う (say). When speaking to someone senior, or in front of a large audience, it is still customary to use the extended form 〜
もう
げます, which means something along the lines of 'I offer my words up'.
As a shortened form,
もう
す was used to get attention, which eventually became the form もしもし.
Although もしもし is common, it is not 'polite', so it is best used for more casual conversations. In a business setting, or to answer the phone to an unknown caller, it would be more customary just to say 'はい、(name) です'.

Kanji used in this point of interest

ブン   モン   き to listen, to hear   きこえる to be heard   
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ゲン   ゴン   say; word   こと word, saying   い to say   
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シン   もう to say   
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ジョウ   ショウ   うえ above   うわ- above   あげる to raise   あがる to rise   かみ first half, upper part   のぼ to climb   のぼせる to bring up, to raise   のぼ to bring up   
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