Standard Lemma guide

sayonara

intj · noun · 3 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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.

  • /ˌsaɪəˈnɑːɹə/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑːɹə

1

intj

Meaning 1

Goodbye, adios, adieu.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: especially, humorous, informal, often

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: adieu, adios, arrivederci, auf Wiedersehen, au revoir, bye, bye-bye, cheerio, cheers, ciao, farewell, goodbye, good day, shalom, so long, tot ziens

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An utterance of sayonara, the wishing of farewell to someone.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

a farewell remark

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • they said their good-byes

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: adieu, adios, arrivederci, auf wiedersehen, au revoir, bye, bye-bye, cheerio, good-by, goodby, good-bye, goodbye, good day, so long

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: farewell, word of farewell

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese さようなら (sayōnara, “farewell”, literally “if that's the way it is”) or its shorter, less traditional form さよなら (sayonara).

Across languages

Translations

17 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: سَايُونَارَا (sāyūnārā) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Georgian: საიონარა (saionara) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Greek: σαγιονάρα (sagionára) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Hebrew: סַיּוֹנַרַה (sayonárah) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Hungarian: szajonara — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Indonesian: sayonara — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Japanese: さようなら (sayōnara) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Japanese: さよなら (sayonara) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Korean: 사요나라 (sayonara) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Persian: سایونارا (sâyonârâ) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Polish: sajonara — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Russian: сайона́ра (sajonára) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Russian: саёнара (sajónara) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Serbo-Croatian: сајонара — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Serbo-Croatian: sajonara — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Thai: ซาโยนาระ (saa-yoo-naa-rá) — goodbye, in reference to Japan
  • Yiddish: סייַאָנאַראַ (sayonara) — goodbye, in reference to Japan