by the way

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

• Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  Play

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.

127 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Afrikaans: terloops — incidentally
• Albanian: meqë ra fjala — incidentally
• Arabic: بِالْمُنَاسَبَةِ (bi-l-munāsaba) — incidentally
• Arabic: عَلَى فِكْرَةٍ (ʕalā fikratin) — incidentally
• Arabic: بالمناسبة (belmunasba) — incidentally
• Arabic: على فكرة (ʕala fikra) — incidentally
• Arabic: تَرَى (tara) — incidentally
• Arabic: بِالْمُنَاسَبة (bilmunāsba) — incidentally
• Arabic: على فكرة (ʕala fikra) — incidentally
• Armenian: ի դեպ (i dep) — incidentally
• Armenian: իմիջիայլոց (imiǰiaylocʻ) — incidentally
• Azerbaijani: yeri gəlmişkən — incidentally
• Azerbaijani: sözü gəlmişkən — incidentally
• Bashkir: әйткәндәй (əytkəndəy) — incidentally
• Belarusian: дарэ́чы (daréčy) — incidentally
• Bulgarian: между́ дру́гото (meždú drúgoto) — incidentally
• Bulgarian: впро́чем (vpróčem) — incidentally
• Catalan: per cert — incidentally
• Chinese Cantonese: 話時話 /话时话 (waa6 si4 waa6) — incidentally
• Chinese Cantonese: 講開又講 /讲开又讲 (gong2 hoi1 jau3 gong2) — incidentally
• Chinese Mandarin: 對了 /对了 (duìle) — incidentally
• Chinese Mandarin: 話說 /话说 (huàshuō) — incidentally
• Czech: mimochodem — incidentally
• Danish: for resten — incidentally
• Danish: forresten — incidentally
• Dutch: trouwens — incidentally
• Dutch: overigens — incidentally
• Dutch: nu dat ik eraan denk — incidentally
• Dutch: tussen haakjes — incidentally
• Dutch: terloops gezegd — incidentally
• Esperanto: parenteze — incidentally
• Esperanto: cetere — incidentally
• Estonian: muuseas — incidentally
• Estonian: muide — incidentally
• Estonian: muuhulgas — incidentally
• Estonian: muideks — incidentally
• Finnish: muuten — incidentally
• French: soit dit en passant — incidentally
• French: tout bien considéré — incidentally
• French: au passage — incidentally
• French: à propos — incidentally
• French: au fait — incidentally
• French: d'ailleurs — incidentally
• Galician: por certo — incidentally
• Galician: a propósito — incidentally
• Galician: de paso — incidentally
• Georgian: სხვათა შორის (sxvata šoris) — incidentally
• German: apropos — incidentally
• German: nebenbei — incidentally
• German: übrigens — incidentally
• Greek: επί τη ευκαιρία (epí ti efkairía) — incidentally
• Greek: επ’ ευκαιρία (ep’ efkairía) — incidentally
• Hebrew: אַגַּב (agáv) — incidentally
• Hebrew: דרך אגב (dérekh agáv) — incidentally
• Hindi: वैसे (vaise) — incidentally
• Hungarian: egyébként — incidentally
• Hungarian: mellesleg — incidentally
• Icelandic: vel á minnst — incidentally
• Icelandic: meðal annarra orða — incidentally
• Indonesian: ngomong ngomong — incidentally
• Irish: dála an scéil — incidentally
• Italian: a proposito — incidentally
• Italian: incidentalmente — incidentally
• Italian: per caso — incidentally
• Japanese: ところで (tokoro de) — incidentally
• Japanese: ちなみに (chinami ni) — incidentally
• Korean: 그런데 (geureonde) — incidentally
• Korean: 참 (cham) — incidentally
• Latin: cēterum — incidentally
• Latvian: starp citu — incidentally
• Lithuanian: beje — incidentally
• Lithuanian: tarp kitko — incidentally
• Macedonian: па́тем (pátem) — incidentally
• Macedonian: па́тем ре́чено (pátem réčeno) — incidentally
• Norwegian: forresten — incidentally
• Occitan: dich siá en passant — incidentally
• Pannonian Rusyn: драгом (drahom) — incidentally
• Pannonian Rusyn: най и то повем (naj i to povem) — incidentally
• Persian: راستی (râsti) — incidentally
• Polish: swoją drogą — incidentally
• Polish: (a) tak w ogóle — incidentally
• Polish: przy okazji — incidentally
• Polish: à propos — incidentally
• Polish: nawiasem mówiąc — incidentally
• Polish: na marginesie — incidentally
• Portuguese: a propósito — incidentally
• Portuguese: aliás — incidentally
• Portuguese: por sinal — incidentally
• Portuguese: diga-se de passagem — incidentally
• Portuguese: já agora — incidentally
• Romanian: apropo — incidentally
• Russian: кста́ти (kstáti) — incidentally
• Russian: ме́жду про́чим (méždu próčim) — incidentally
• Kildin-Sami: са̄нна (sānna) — incidentally
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar dà sgeul — incidentally
• Scottish Gaelic: eadar dhà sheanchas — incidentally
• Serbo-Croatian: у̏згре̄д — incidentally
• Serbo-Croatian: у̀спӯт — incidentally
• Serbo-Croatian: ȕzgrēd — incidentally
• Serbo-Croatian: ùspūt — incidentally
• Sicilian: appassissì — incidentally
• Slovak: mimochodom — incidentally
• Slovene: mímogredé — incidentally
• Spanish: por cierto — incidentally
• Spanish: de paso — incidentally
• Spanish: dicho sea de paso — incidentally
• Spanish: a propósito — incidentally
• Spanish: a todo esto — incidentally
• Spanish: hablando de todo un poco — incidentally
• Spanish: hablando un poco de todo — incidentally
• Swedish: förresten — incidentally
• Swedish: för övrigt — incidentally
• Swedish: bara så att du vet — incidentally
• Telugu: అన్నట్టు (annaṭṭu) — incidentally
• Turkish: aklıma gelmişken — incidentally
• Turkish: bu arada — incidentally
• Turkish: sırası gelmişken — incidentally
• Ukrainian: до ре́чі (do réči) — incidentally
• Ukrainian: між і́ншим (miž ínšym) — incidentally
• Urdu: ویسے (vaise) — incidentally
• Vietnamese: nhân đây — incidentally
• Vietnamese: à này — incidentally
• Vietnamese: tiện thể — incidentally
• Walloon: vormint — incidentally
• Welsh: gyda llaw — incidentally
• Yiddish: אַגבֿ (agev) — incidentally
• Yiddish: אַגבֿ־אורחא (agev-urkhe) — incidentally