The word 'goodbye' originated in the 1600s. Here's what it originally meant

It's truly astonishing how words and phrases evolve and take on new meanings. Among the few great examples of this is the word "awful," which initially meant inspiring or full of awe, but by the 1800s, it shifted from the feeling of awe to describing something unpleasant. Nonetheless, while the evolution of the word "goodbye" isn't as dramatic as this example, it surely is quite interesting, as explained by Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens on their podcast 'The Rest is Science' (@therestisscience). Posted on April 22, their video has amassed over 75,000 likes and close to 2.5 million views on Instagram since.

Where does 'goodbye' come from?

In the clip, Hannah Fry reveals the surprising origin of the word that we all use almost every day. "The 1600s is the exact century when the parting blessing 'god be with you' was said so rapidly and often as phatic communion that it permanently mashed together into 'God b'wy' and eventually 'goodbye.'" Indeed, that was the case, as the first known use of the word was recorded in 1573 in a letter written by an English writer and scholar, Gabriel Harvey. His letter read: "To requite your gallonde (gallon) of godbwyes, I regive you a pottle of howdyes."

Semantic Change

Contrary to popular belief, as we just learned, language isn't static. It actually changes more often than we'd think, and this exact process is called semantic change. It happens because of a variety of factors such as cultural evolution, technological advancements, social change, or even interaction between different cultures and languages, according to researchers. In fact, while some words acquire new meanings, a few can also become obsolete with time. Meanwhile, new inventions also call for new words to describe them.

For example, the terms like "selfie," "tweet," and "emoji" were all created because of the influence of social media and new technology. In 2025 alone, major dictionaries added almost 6,000 new words, including words such as "skibidi" and "tradwife," according to CBS8. Nonetheless, while words keep evolving and new words keep emerging, people cannot seem to get enough of the origin of the word "goodbye," as they stormed the comment section with some interesting thoughts.

"In Russian, we have the same thing with 'Thank you'. It sounds like 'Spasibo' and is derived from 'Spasi Bog', which means 'May the God save you'. So whenever you thank someone in Russian, you also pray for them," @iamo0 revealed, providing further evidence of the word's initial usage. Meanwhile, @happyjuliothebulldog suggested we should go back to the original phrase, "Let's slow down a little and say 'God be with you' again, as a shield against the evil we all walk through daily."

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