farewell
Meaning
-
- A wish of happiness or safety at parting, especially a permanent departure.
- A departure; the act of leaving.
Synonyms
word of farewell
accompany part way
farewell gathering
leave taking
bid farewell
go well
seeing one off
farewell party
go forward
Frequency
Hyphenated as
fare‧well
Pronounced as (IPA)
/fɛəˈwɛl/
Etymology
From Middle English farewel, from fare wel! (and the variants with the personal pronoun "fare ye well" and "fare you well" used in the Renaissance), an imperative expression, possibly further derived from Old English *far wel!, equivalent to fare (“to fare, travel, journey”) + well. Compare Scots farewele, fairweill (“farewell”), Saterland Frisian Foarwäil (“farewell”), West Frisian farwol (“farewell”), German Fahrwol, Fahrwohl, East Frisian forwal, Dutch vaarwel (“farewell (sadly)”), Danish farvel (“farewell”), Norwegian farvel (“farewell”), Swedish farväl (“farewell”), Faroese farvæl (“goodbye”), Icelandic far vel (“farewell”). The extensive list of cognates suggests a postulated ultimate Proto-Germanic phrase of origin, possibly something akin to *far wela.
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