Phrase guide

Vulcan salute

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˌvʌl.kən səˈl(j)uːt/
  • General-American: /ˌvʌl.kən səˈlut/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans, consisting of a raised hand with the palm forward and the thumb extended, and the fingers parted between the middle finger and ring finger.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Vulcan (“inhabitant of the fictional planet Vulcan in the television series Star Trek”) + salute. The gesture was devised by the American actor Leonard Nimoy (1931–2015), who portrayed the half-Vulcan character Spock in the television series Star Trek (originally broadcast 1966–1969); he first used it in “Amok Time”, the first episode of the second season aired on September 15, 1967.

Across languages

Translations

27 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Armenian: Վուլկանյան ողջույն (Vulkanyan oġǰuyn) — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Azerbaijani: Vulkan salamı — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Basque: Vulkaniar agur — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Catalan: salutació vulcaniana — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Chinese Mandarin: 瓦肯舉手禮 /瓦肯举手礼 (Wǎkěn jǔshǒulǐ) — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Czech: Vulkánský pozdrav — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Dutch: Vulcaanse groet — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Esperanto: Vulkana saluto — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Finnish: vulkanuslainen tervehdys — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • French: salut vulcain — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • German: Grußgeste der Vulkanier — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • German: Vulkanier-Gruß — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Hebrew: הצדעה וולקנית — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Hungarian: vulkáni köszöntés — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Interlingua: salute vulcan — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Italian: saluto vulcaniano — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Korean: 벌컨 인사 (beolkeon insa) — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Macedonian: ву́лкански по́здрав (vúlkanski pózdrav) — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Malayalam: വൾക്കൻ സല്യൂട്ട് (vaḷkkaṉ salyūṭṭŭ) — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Polish: salut wolkański — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Portuguese: saudação vulcana — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Russian: Вулканский салю́т (Vulkanskij saljút) — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Spanish: saludo vulcano — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Swedish: Vulcanhälsning — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Turkish: Vulcan selamı — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Ukrainian: вулканський салют (vulkansʹkyj saljut) — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans
  • Ukrainian: вулканське привіта́ння (vulkansʹke pryvitánnja) — gesture of greeting among Star Trek fans