American Sign Language Goodbye: How to Sign It Clearly

The short answer

In American Sign Language (ASL), goodbye is usually signed as a wave. Raise your dominant hand with the palm facing the person you are talking to and the fingers held together. Then bend the fingers down toward the palm and back up a few times. It looks much like the casual wave many English speakers already use, which is why most people pick it up quickly.

Your dominant hand is the one you write with. If you are left-handed, sign with your left hand. Either hand is correct as long as you use it consistently.

Step by step

• 1. Raise your dominant hand to about shoulder height, a little to the side of your face.
• 2. Open the hand flat with the fingers together and the palm facing outward, toward the other person.
• 3. Bend all four fingers down together at the knuckles, then straighten them again. The thumb can stay relaxed.
• 4. Repeat the bend two or three times in a smooth, relaxed rhythm.
• 5. Keep a friendly facial expression. In ASL, the face carries meaning, so a warm look supports a friendly goodbye.

A side-to-side wave with an open palm is also widely understood as goodbye. The bending-finger version is the form commonly taught as the standard sign.

Ambiguities that change the meaning

Goodbye and see you later are separate signs in ASL. If you mean a specific "see you later" or "see you tomorrow," the goodbye wave alone will not say that. Learn those phrases as their own signs instead of adding words to the wave.

You do not need to fingerspell G-O-O-D-B-Y-E. Fingerspelling means spelling a word letter by letter with handshapes. Spelling out a common word that already has a sign would look unusual.

Signs can also vary by region, community and age group, much as spoken words do. If the people you sign with use a slightly different form, follow their lead.

Checking your sign before a video call

Before a call, practice in front of your camera's self-view or a mirror. Make sure your whole hand, your face and the space around your shoulders are in frame. If your fingers are cut off at the top or side of the picture, the movement becomes hard to read.

• Mirrored preview: Many video-call apps flip your self-view like a mirror, while other participants see the unflipped image. A wave usually reads fine either way, but keep this in mind when you check other signs where direction matters.
• Lighting: Light your face and hands from the front so the finger movement is visible and not lost in shadow.
• Background: A plain physical background that contrasts with your skin tone and clothing makes hand shapes easier to see. Virtual background or blur effects can sometimes cut off or smear moving hands at the edges. If you notice that in the preview, turn the effect off for signing.
• Pace: Sign at a relaxed speed. Choppy video or a low frame rate can blur quick finger movements, even when the camera itself is working normally.

A camera that shows up in your app and gives a working preview only confirms access and capture. How clearly others see your signing also depends on the call's connection and video quality. If someone says your hands look blurry, slowing down or improving your lighting usually helps more than changing the sign.

Limitations of this guide

This guide describes the commonly taught form of the sign in writing, and no reference videos or dictionary sources were provided to confirm the details. A written description cannot fully show movement, rhythm or facial expression. To confirm your form, compare it with a video from a reputable ASL dictionary or course, or ask a Deaf signer or a qualified ASL instructor for feedback.