We all know what ‘goodbye’ means. It’s a popular English language word we say when someone is leaving a place. Do you want to know how goodbye (or good-bye) started? Let’s find out!

Key facts about the word Goodbye!

• ‘Goodbye’ comes from the old English term ‘Godbwye’.
• ‘Godbwye‘ in turn is a contraction (shortening) of the phrase ‘God be with ye (you)’.
• The phrase means to wish someone well; that God will protect them and they will be safe wherever they are going.
• This contraction is believed to have first emerged somewhere between 1565 and 1575.
• The first written use of the ‘Godbwye’ is seen in a letter written by English writer Gabriel Harvey in 1573.
• As time went on, it is believed the phrase was influenced by terms like “good day” and “good evening”.
• Hence, the word ‘God’ was replaced by ‘good‘ and today we use ‘goodbye’.
• Today, the word ‘goodbye’ has become almost universal. ‘Goodbye’ (or its more informal forms like ‘bye’ or ‘bye bye’) can be understood by almost everyone, even if they don’t speak English.

Here is  a video on how to say ‘hello’ and ‘goodbye’ in different languages:

 

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