farewell
/fɛɹˈwɛl/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.89 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
intj
verb
To bid farewell or say goodbye.
name
A hamlet in Farewell and Chorley parish, Lichfield district, Staffordshire, England (OS grid ref SK0811).
name
A surname.
Example Sentences
- "He bid farewell to all of his fans."
- "The departure was not unduly prolonged.[…]Within the door Mrs. Spoker hastily imparted to Mrs. Love a few final sentiments on the subject of Divine Intention in the disposition of buckets; farewells and last commiserations; a deep, guttural instigation to the horse; and the wheels of the waggonette crunched heavily away into obscurity."
- "The last train—a three-coach A.E.C. unit—from Belfast to Crumlin and back, was bade farewell with fog signals as it carried a capacity crowd of last-trip travellers."
- "See how the morning opes her golden gates, And takes her farewell of the glorious sun."
- "Before I take my farewell of the subject."
- "a farewell discourse; the band's farewell tour"
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /fɛɹˈwɛl/
- British English: /fɛəˈwɛl/
Inflected Forms
farewells (plural)
farewel (alternative, obsolete)
farewells (present, singular)
farewelling (participle, present)
farewelled (participle, past)
farewelled (past)