by the way

English

Alternative forms

• BTW, btw (initialism)

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Prepositional phrase

by the way

1. (conjunctive, speech act, idiomatic) Incidentally; a parenthetical statement not timely, central, or crucial to the topic at hand; foregone, passed by, something that has already happened.
   • 1853, Herman Melville, Bartleby, the Scrivener, in Billy Budd, Sailor and Other Stories, New York: Penguin Books, 1968; reprint 1995 as Bartleby, ISBN 0 14 60.0012 9, p.2:

     [...] I had counted on a life-lease of the profits, whereas I only received those of a few short years. But this is by the way.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 7, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     “A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing. […]”

   His mother will be coming for dinner tomorrow, and, by the way, she volunteered to bring dessert.

Synonyms

• apropos
• BTW
• by the by
• incidentally

Translations

incidentally

• Albanian: meqë ra fjala
• Arabic: بِالْمُنَاسَبَةِ (bi-l-munāsaba), عَلَى فِكْرَةٍ (ʕalā fikratin)

  Egyptian Arabic: بالمناسبة (belmunasba)

  Hijazi Arabic: تَرَى (tara), بِالْمُنَاسَبة (bilmunāsba)

• Armenian: ի դեպ (i dep), ի միջի այլոց (i miǰi aylocʻ)
• Azerbaijani: yeri gəlmişkən, sözü gəlmişkən
• Bashkir: әйткәндәй (əytkəndəy)
• Belarusian: дарэ́чы (daréčy)
• Bulgarian: между́ дру́гото (meždú drúgoto), впро́чем (bg) (vpróčem)
• Catalan: per cert
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 話時話／话时话 (waa⁶ si⁴ waa⁶), 講開又講／讲开又讲 (gong² hoi¹ jau³ gong²)

  Mandarin: 順便問一句／顺便问一句 (shùnbiàn wèn yījù), 顺便问一句 (shùnbiàn wèn yījù), 順便問一下／顺便问一下 (shùnbiàn wèn yīxià), 顺便问一下 (shùnbiàn wèn yīxià), 對了／对了 (zh) (duìle), 对了 (zh) (duìle)

• Czech: mimochodem (cs)
• Danish: for resten, forresten
• Dutch: trouwens (nl), overigens (nl), nu dat ik eraan denk, tussen haakjes
• Esperanto: parenteze, cetere (eo)
• Finnish: muuten (fi)
• French: soit dit en passant (fr), tout bien considéré; at beginning of a sentence: à propos (fr), au fait (fr), d’ailleurs (fr)
• Georgian: სხვათა შორის (sxvata šoris)
• German: apropos (de), nebenbei (de), übrigens (de)
• Greek: επί τη ευκαιρία (epí ti efkairía), επ' ευκαιρία (ep' efkairía)
• Hebrew: אַגַּב (he) (agáv), דרך אגב (he) (dérekh agáv)
• Hindi: वैसे (hi) (vaise)
• Hungarian: egyébként (hu), mellesleg (hu)
• Icelandic: vel á minnst, meðal annarra orða (formal)
• Indonesian: ngomong ngomong
• Irish: dála an scéil
• Italian: a proposito, incidentalmente (it), per caso
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: ところで (ja) (tokoro de), ちなみに (ja) (chinami ni)
• Korean: 그런데 (ko) (geureonde)
• Latin: obiter
• Latvian: starp citu
• Lithuanian: beje, tarp kitko
• Macedonian: па́тем (pátem), па́тем ре́чено (pátem réčeno)
• Norwegian: forresten (no)
• Persian: راستی (fa)
• Polish: swoją drogą, (a) tak w ogóle, przy okazji (pl), à propos (pl)
• Portuguese: a propósito, aliás (pt), por sinal, diga-se de passagem, já agora
• Romanian: apropo (ro)
• Russian: кста́ти (ru) (kstáti), ме́жду про́чим (méždu próčim)
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar dà sgeul
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: у̏згре̄д, у̀спӯт

  Roman: ȕzgrēd (sh), ùspūt (sh)

• Slovak: mimochodom
• Slovene: mímogredé
• Spanish: por cierto (es), a propósito (es), dicho sea de paso, depaso
• Swedish: förresten (sv), för övrigt (sv)
• Telugu: అన్నట్టు (annaṭṭu)
• Turkish: aklıma gelmişken (tr), bu arada (tr), sırası gelmişken (tr)
• Ukrainian: до ре́чі (do réči)
• Urdu: ویسے (vaise)
• Vietnamese: nhân đây, à này (informal), tiện thể (vi)
• Welsh: gyda llaw

Adverb

by the way (not comparable)

1. (UK, idiomatic) Irrelevantly, off-topic.