adieu

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English adieu also adew, adewe, adue, from Old French adieu (“to God”), a shortening of a Dieu vous comant (“I commend you to God”), from Latin ad (“to”) + deus (“God”)

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA: /əˈdu/, /əˈdju/, X-SAMPA: /V"du/, /V"dju/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (UK) IPA: /æˈdjuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

Usage notes

Although the above pronunciations are usually used in American and RP English, neither is the correct pronunciation in French.

Interjection

adieu

1. Said to wish a fond farewell; good-bye.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 3 Scene 1

     BEATRICE. What fire is in mine ears? Can this be true?

     Stand I condemn'd for pride and scorn so much?

     Contempt, farewell! and maiden pride, adieu!

     No glory lives behind the back of such.

Synonyms

• addio, adios, aloha, arrivederci, auf Wiedersehen, au revoir, bye, bye-bye, cheerio, cheers, ciao, farewell, good-by, good-bye, goodbye, good day, sayonara, shalom, so long

Translations

farewell

• Arabic: وداعًا (ar) (wadāʿan)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 再見 (cmn), 再见 (cmn) (zàijiàn)

• French: adieu (fr), bon vent (fr)
• German: auf Wiedersehen (de), tschüss (de), grüß Gott (de), adieu (de)
• Greek: αντίο (el) (antío) n 
• Hungarian: agyő (hu)

• Japanese: さようなら (ja) (sayōnara), さよなら (ja) (sayonara)
• Romanian: adio (ro)
• Russian: прощайте (ru) (proščájte)  (formal or to a group), прощай (ru) (proščáj)  (informal to one person)
• Slovene: zbogom (sl)
• Spanish: adiós (es)
• Walloon: Diè wåde (wa)

Noun

adieu (plural adieux or adieus)

1. A farewell, a goodbye; especially a fond farewell, or a lasting or permanent farewell.

   We bid our final adieus to our family, then boarded the ship, bound for America.

Usage notes

Particularly used in phrase bid adieu.

Derived terms

• bid adieu

Translations

a farewell

• Arabic: الوداع (ar)
• Dutch: adieu (nl)
• French: adieu (fr), farewell (fr)
• German: Adieu (de) n
• Greek: αποχαιρετισμός (el) (apochairetismós) m 

  Ancient: ἀποχαιρετισμὸς (apochairetismós) m, ἐξητηριος λόγος (exi̱ti̱rios lógos)

• Hungarian: agyő (hu)
• Norwegian: adjø (no) n, farvel (no) n
• Russian: прощание (ru) (proščánije) n 
• Spanish: adiós (es) m
• Swedish: adjö (sv), farväl (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Korean: 안녕! (annyeong), 잘 가(세요) (jal ga(seyo))

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French

Etymology

Old French a Dieu vos comant (“I commend you to God”)

Pronunciation

• audio

  (file)

• IPA: /a.djø/

Interjection

adieu

1. farewell, adieu
2. (Southern France) hello

Noun

adieu m (plural adieux)

1. farewell

See also

• à-Dieu-va, à-Dieu-vat

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Occitan

Interjection

adieu

1. hello
2. goodbye