goodbye

Etymology

It is a contraction of the parting formula “God be with you” or “God be with ye”,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} with good put in place of God on the pattern of good day, goodnight and other greetings.^{[2][4][10][11][7][8]} The OED has “God be with you” as a farewell from at least 1483, in Caxton's “Golden Legend”, and “God be with ye” from at least the second half of the 16th century;^[2] Etymonline dates the latter to the late 14th century.^[6] Forms on the way include “God be wy you” and “God b'uy” in the 16th century.^[6][12][8] Franz suggested in 1898 that the phrase began as “God buy you”, God redeem you, but the OED finds no support in the earliest forms, and treats the spellings with “buy” as a later association with buy.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

An instance of saying farewell: the noun, in a solid spelling, in G. Harvey's letter-book in 1575.^[2][3] The interjection follows in 1578, in G. Whetstone's Promos & Cassandra.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the salutation to the 1590s, with the form godbwye from the 1570s.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The religious wish wore away with the sound, in a gradual loss of form that Merriam-Webster's word history compares with hussy from housewife: speakers no longer connect the result with its source.^[8] The modern spelling arrived late, in the 18th century according to Ayto and the 19th according to Merriam-Webster,^[7][8] and in the OED's record early spellings were often divided, solid ones appearing from the beginning and hyphenated or solid ones gaining later.^[2] Already in 1715 the interjection could dismiss something finished with, usually with to,^[2] and the idiom say goodbye to took the same sense in 1751.^[2] The word has gone on shrinking, to bye, and this was expanded again to bye-bye.^[8]

Timeline

• 1575 – noun, an instance of saying goodbye.^[2][3]
• 1578 – interjection, said on parting.^[2][3]
• 1694 – to say goodbye, to take one's leave.^[2]
• 1715 – interjection, of something finished with or got rid of.^[2]
• 1751 – to say goodbye to, to finish with something.^[2]
• 1793 – noun, an act of parting.^[2]
• 1848 – adjective, done on parting, as in goodbye kiss.^[2]
• 1869 – to kiss or wave goodbye, to take leave with a gesture.^[2]
• 1895 – to kiss goodbye to, to resign oneself to losing something.^[2]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Said when parting from someone or ending a conversation, such as a telephone call; farewell.^[2][3][5]
2. Said of something being got rid of or left in the past, usually with to and often with relief.^[2][5]

Noun

1. A remark or gesture made at parting; a farewell.^[2][3][5]
2. An act of parting or leave-taking.^[2][3][5]

Adjective

1. Done on parting or to mark a departure.^[2][3]

Related words

• god
• good
• bye
• bye-bye

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
8. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Book of Word Histories, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press