farewell

B1 Topic:General Vocabulary

US /fɛɹˈwɛl/ UK /fɛəˈwɛl/ See IPA manual

Freq #3509

Meanings

1

intj
Goodbye (said when leaving, often for a long time).

He said "Farewell!" and walked away.
2

noun
Words or actions when saying goodbye, especially for a long time.

He bid farewell to all of his fans.
3

adj
Done or given as a final goodbye.

The band announced their farewell tour.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 intj · goodbye (said when leaving,... adieu goodbye

2 noun · words or actions when... leave-takingparting goodbye

Word family

Forms farewells

Appears in

Phrases (1)

See all

farewell kiss
a kiss given when saying goodbye

Adjective + noun

Simplified etymology

Farewell is recorded from Middle English and originally meant “go well” or “safe journey.” Its first element is fare in its older sense “travel” or “journey.”

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 (“goodb…

farewel Middle English *far wel! Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

General Vocabulary

External links

# farewell

**Type:** Word
**Level:** B1
**Part of speech:** intj, noun, adj
**IPA (US):** /fɛɹˈwɛl/
**IPA (UK):** /fɛəˈwɛl/
**Frequency rank:** 3509

## Meanings
1. Goodbye (said when leaving, often for a long time).
2. Words or actions when saying goodbye, especially for a long time.
3. Done or given as a final goodbye.

## Examples
- He said "Farewell!" and walked away.
- He bid farewell to all of his fans.
- The band announced their farewell tour.

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: farewel
- Root: *far wel!

## 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 (“goodb…

## AI Etymology
Farewell comes 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. In current use, the main senses are “Goodbye (said when leaving, often for a long time)” and “Words or actions when saying goodbye, especially for a long time”.

## Topics
- General Vocabulary

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