Adieu Means Go With God
Adieu is a French farewell. Like goodbye and adios, it began as a blessing rather than a simple parting word.
Adieu is a farewell borrowed from French, used in English for a final or dramatic parting. It is short for *à Dieu vous commant*, I commend you to God, and it belongs to a family of religious farewells: Spanish *adiós*, and English *goodbye*, which is a worn-down form of *God be with ye*. Almost every European farewell was once a blessing.
- A farewell. *He bade them adieu.*
- Bid adieu — to say goodbye. *We bid adieu to summer.*
- Without further adieu — a common misspelling of *ado*. *Without further ado.*
- Adios — the Spanish equivalent. *Adios, amigo.*
- Adieux — the plural, rarely used. *Their final adieux.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Interjection | adieu | Adieu! |
| Noun | adieu | A last adieu. |
| Plural | adieux | Fond adieux. |
| Spanish | adiós | Adiós. |
| English | goodbye | Goodbye for now. |
- She waved and said adieu.Deliberately formal or theatrical.
- Without further ado, here is the winner.Ado, not adieu.
- They bade a final adieu at the station.Literary.
Farewells that were blessings
- Goodbye — from God be with ye
- Adieu — to God
- Adiós — the same in Spanish
- Adieu's cousins appear across the Romance languages
- Farewell — the exception: simply travel well
Old French *adieu*, from *a Dieu*, to God, a shortening of a longer phrase of commendation. English has used it since the 1300s.
Is it without further ado or adieu?
Ado, meaning fuss. Adieu is a farewell and does not fit the phrase, though the error is very common.
Where does goodbye come from?
From God be with ye, contracted over centuries. The good was influenced by good day and good night.