this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2026
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Now that I think of it, is there an English equivalent for "adieu"? Because French also has "au revoir" which is used more like goodbye, "adieu" carries a meaning of finality, if you say this, you know you will never see that person again, it's quite heavy and not used very frequently at all.
"Farewell" works for that purpose in English. And since you reminded me, that's the meaning of "sayonara" too -- you're not supposed to use it for casual goodbyes.
Same deal with Portuguese ⟨adeus⟩. With the role of casual valediction being taken by a borrowing, ⟨tchau⟩ [tʃäʊ̯] ~ ⟨xau⟩ [ʃäʊ̯]… etymologically way more problematic, given it's ultimately from Venetan ⟨sciao⟩ [stʃäʊ̯] "slave". Originally ⟨sciao vostro⟩ "your slave" (implied: "I'm at your service").
Glad etymology doesn't dictate current meaning though.