Standard Lemma guide

whilere

adv · 1 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.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ʍaɪˈlɛː/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /waɪ-/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ʍaɪˈleɹ/
  • General-American: /waɪ-/

1

adv

Meaning 1

A while ago; a time before; formerly, previously.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic, not-comparable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: erewhile, erstwhile, afore, aforehand, already, antecedently, at one time, before, beforehand, beforetime, ere, erenow, erstwhiles, foretime, formerly, in advance, in the past, late, once, precedently, previously, sometime, sometimes, therebefore, while, whilere, whilom, yestertide, yestertime, yet

Antonyms: anymore, any more, at present, at the minute, at the moment, at this moment in time, atm, currently, just now, now, nowadays, presently, right now, these days, after, afterhand, afterward, afterwards, followingly, hereafter, later, sithence, subsequently, yet

History

Etymology

From Middle English whil er, whileere [and other forms], whilom er (“some while ago or before, formerly”), from Old English hwīle ǣr, hwīlum ǣr, from hwīle (accusative singular of hwīl), hwīlum (“at some time in the past, once; sometimes”) (dative plural of hwīl (“period of time, a while”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *kwyeh1- (“to rest; peace, rest”)) + ǣr (“before”) (ultimately from Proto-Germanic *airiz (“before, earlier”)). The English word is analysable as while + ere.