Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

while

/wæl/

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.86 in modern English

Syllables: while
IPA: /wæl/

11

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.

noun

An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.

noun

An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.

conj

During the same time that.

conj

conj

conj

prep

Example Sentences

"He lectured for quite a long while."
"It’s a long while since anyone lived there, so it’s a ruin now."
"Do the good that's nearest Though it's dull at whiles."
"There are whiles […] when ye are altogether too canny and Whiggish to be company for a gentleman like me."
"Things were pretty dark for a while — several whiles, actually."
"He was sleeping while I was singing."

Etymology

From Middle English whyle, from Old English hwīl, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlu, from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (compare Dutch wijl, Low German Wiel, German Weile, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvile (“rest”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvila (“rest”), Swedish vila (“rest”), Faroese and Icelandic hvíla (“rest”)) from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest”). Cognate with Albanian sillë (“breakfast”), Latin tranquillus, Sanskrit चिर (cirá), Persian شاد (šâd).

Origin

Source language: Middle English

Word Breakdown

Root: *kʷyeh₁-, whyle, hwīl, *hwīlu, *hwīlō

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /wæl/

Usage

Inflected Forms

whiles (archaic, informal) whiles (present, singular) whiling (participle, present) whiled (participle, past) whiled (past)

Derived Forms

awhile meanwhile whilere whiles whilst worthwhile

Phrases

after a while all the while breathing while even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while even a blind squirrel can find a nut once in a while even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while every once in a while for a while

Synonyms

spell space throw while age aeon ages blue moon coon's age crow's age dog's age donkey's years

Homonyms

wile (wine–whine merger)

Antonyms

since until

Rhymes With

style file smile mile pile kyle awhile isle worthwhile tile aisle nile

Questions

How do you pronounce while?: The recorded pronunciation is /wæl/.
What does while mean?: An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.
Where does while come from?: It is traced to Middle English.

How to pronounce while

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “while”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/wæl/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “while”.
Repeat and practice — Say “while” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.