Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • interjection Used to express farewell.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • interjection informal goodbye, adieu

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a farewell remark

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Japanese sayonara, sayōnara, alteration of sayō naraba, if be thus (said to indicate that the time for departure has come) : sayō, thus (sa, that + , appearance, from Middle Chinese jiang`; also the source of Mandarin yang`) + naraba, if it be.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Japanese さようなら (sayōnara, "goodbye")

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Examples

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  • Not to be confused with cyanide, which is, of course, goodbye in any language.

    September 17, 2007