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.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

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

   His mother will be coming for dinner tomorrow, and, by the way, she recently sold her collection of ceramic eggs.

   • 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:

     “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. […]”

Translations

incidentally

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

  Egyptian Arabic: بالمناسبة (belmunasba)

  Hijazi Arabic: على فكرة (ʕala fikra), تَرَى (tara), بِالْمُنَاسَبة (bilmunāsba)

  South Levantine Arabic: على فكرة (ʕala fikra)

• Armenian: ի դեպ (i dep), իմիջիայլոց (imiǰiaylocʻ)
• 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 (yue) (waa⁶ si⁴ waa⁶), 講開又講／讲开又讲 (gong² hoi¹ jau³ gong²)

  Mandarin: 對了／对了 (zh) (duìle), 話說／话说 (zh) (huàshuō)

• 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)
• Galician: por certo, a propósito (gl), de paso
• Georgian: სხვათა შორის (sxvata šoris)
• German: apropos (de), nebenbei (de), übrigens (de)
• Greek: επί τη ευκαιρία (el) (epí ti efkairía), επ' ευκαιρία (el) (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: cēterum
• 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) (râsti)
• 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, eadar dhà sheanchas
• 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 (es), 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?)