12 ways to say goodbye in other languages
Despite their different constructions and etymologies, expressions of parting across languages tend to communicate similar things, many of them outlining the hope of meeting again. English has borrowed many of the following foreign expressions of parting, so you’ve probably encountered some of these ways to say goodbye in other languages.
1. adiós, adieu, addio, adeus
Besides adieu in French, there are also adiós in Spanish, addio in Italian, and adeus in Portuguese. Adieu comes from the combination of a + Dieu (‘to God’); adios, addio, and adeus have similar etymologies.
This Hawaiian word is used as both a welcome and farewell, but also for expressions of good wishes, love, and affection. Because of how often the term is used Hawaii has taken on the nickname of the Aloha State.
In Italian, arrivederci means ‘until we see each other again’. You might be tempted by the arrive- to think that the word has something to do with a greeting, but the word actually comes from a (‘until’) + rivederci (‘we see each other again’).
Ciao has an intriguing origin: in the 1920s, ciao arose as a dialectal alteration of schiavo, which translates as ‘(I am your) slave’. Like aloha, ciao does double duty as both a term of greeting and parting.
5. auf Wiedersehen
A common send off in Germany is auf Wiedersehen. This farewell directly translates into ‘until we see again’.
6. au revoir
Similar to auf Wiedersehen, au revoir directly translates as ‘to the seeing again’, anticipating a meeting in the future.
7. bon voyage
Another common French term with widespread usage is bon voyage, ‘good journey’, used to express good wishes to someone who is about to embark on a trip.
Short for sayō naraba, which literally translates as ‘if it be thus’, sayonara is used, according to the OED, to ‘qualify desire to meet again so as not to tempt fate’. Additionally, sayonara is used in English to suggest that something has been finished with, abandoned, or consigned to the past in more general usage, as in ‘you can say sayonara to that those tasty plums’.
The Hebrew word can be used as both a welcome and farewell. Shalom is the widespread Hebrew goodbye that translates as ‘peace’, but a more formal parting would be to say shalom aleichem or ‘peace be with you’.
South Africans might send each other off by saying totsiens, which means ‘until we meet again’. This word entered English from Afrikaans in the 1930s, originating from Dutch words tot ‘until’ and zien ‘see’.
Another interesting valediction is the archaic farewell vale, meaning ‘goodbye’ in Latin. The word comes from the second person singular imperative of valēre, ‘to be well’.
A common send-off in China is 再见(zàijiàn). The verb ‘to bid farewell’ is expressed with 辞行 (ɡàobié).
Did we miss your favorite goodbye? Tell us in the comments!