by the way

by the way

English

Alternative forms

• BTW, btw (initialism)

Etymology

First appeared in the 10th century with literal meaning "by the side of the road", from Old English weġ (which became "way") meaning "road". Soon afterward (circa 1000) it came to mean "during one's journey". The figurative meaning developed in the mid-16th century, with the first instance of the modern meaning being from 1614.[1]

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Prepositional phrase

by the way

1. (conjunctive, idiomatic) Incidentally; used in referencing a parenthetical statement not timely, central, or crucial to the topic at hand; foregone, passed by, something that has already happened.

   Synonyms: apropos, BTW, by the by, incidentally

   • 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[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:

     “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 recently sold her collection of ceramic eggs.

Translations

incidentally

Albanian: meqë ra fjala Arabic: بِالْمُنَاسَبَةِ‎ (bi-l-munāsaba), عَلَى فِكْرَةٍ‎ (ʿalā fikratin) Egyptian Arabic: بالمناسبة‎ (belmunasba) Hijazi Arabic: تَرَى‎ (tara), بِالْمُنَاسَبة‎ (bilmunāsba) Armenian: ի դեպ (i dep), ի միջի այլոց (i miǰi aylocʿ) Azerbaijani: yeri gəlmişkən, sözü gəlmişkən Bashkir: әйткәндәй (äytkändäy) Belarusian: дарэ́чы (daréčy) Bulgarian: между́ дру́гото (meždú drúgoto), впро́чем (bg) (vpróčem) Catalan: per cert Chinese: Cantonese: 話時話 (yue) (waa6 si4 waa6), 講開又講 (gong2 hoi1 jau3 gong2) Mandarin: 順便問一句／顺便问一句 (shùnbiàn wèn yījù), 順便問一下／顺便问一下 (shùnbiàn wèn yīxià), 對了／对了 (zh) (duìle) Czech: mimochodem (cs) Danish: for resten, forresten Dutch: trouwens (nl), overigens (nl), nu dat ik eraan denk, tussen haakjes, terloops gezegd Esperanto: parenteze, cetere (eo) Estonian: muuseas, muide, muuhulgas, muideks Finnish: muuten (fi) French: soit dit en passant (fr), tout bien considéré (fr); 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 (el) (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 Japanese: ところで (ja) (tokoro de), ちなみに (ja) (chinami ni) Korean: 그런데 (ko) (geureonde), 참 (ko) (cham) Latin: obiter Latvian: starp citu Lithuanian: beje, tarp kitko Macedonian: па́тем (pátem), па́тем ре́чено (pátem réčeno) Norwegian: forresten (no) Occitan: dich siá en passant Persian: راستی‎ (fa) Polish: swoją drogą, (a) tak w ogóle, przy okazji (pl), à propos (pl), nawiasem mówiąc (pl), na marginesie Portuguese: a propósito (pt), aliás (pt), por sinal, diga-se de passagem, já agora Romanian: apropo (ro) Russian: кста́ти (ru) (kstáti), ме́жду про́чим (ru) (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), de paso (es), a propósito (es), dicho sea de paso, a todo esto Swedish: förresten (sv), för övrigt (sv) Telugu: అన్నట్టు (annaṭṭu) Turkish: aklıma gelmişken (tr), bu arada (tr), sırası gelmişken (tr) Ukrainian: до ре́чі (do réči), між і́ншим (miž ínšym) Urdu: ویسے‎ (vaise) Vietnamese: nhân đây, à này (informal), tiện thể (vi) Welsh: gyda llaw Yiddish: אַגבֿ‎ (agev), אַגבֿ־אורחא‎ (agev-urkhe)

Adverb

by the way (not comparable)

1. (UK, idiomatic) Irrelevantly, off-topic.(Can we add an example for this sense?)

References

1. “And by the way …”, in Grammarphobia‎, March 17, 2010