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goodbye

Pronunciation: /ɡʊdˈbaɪ/

The English word “goodbye” has 3 meanings listed here.

interjection

  1. Farewell; a formula used to another person or persons when the speaker, writer, or person addressed is departing.

noun

  1. An utterance of goodbye, the wishing of farewell to someone.

verb

  1. To say goodbye; to wish somebody farewell on parting.

Etymology

From earlier goodby, Godby, Godby'e, Godbwye, God b'w'y, God bwy yee, God buy you, God be wi' you, each a progressively shorter contraction of God be with ye or God be with you. Note the change of God to good by confusion with good morning, good night, etc. Modernly analysed as good + bye.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.