so long

See also: solong and Solong

English

Etymology

Uncertain. Compare to Swedish hej så länge and Russian пока (poka). See Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “so long”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General American):

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• Audio (Southern England):

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Interjection

so long

1. (informal) Goodbye; a valediction used when leaving or departing from a person or place.

   So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

   • 1996, “Eulogy”, in Maynard James Keenan (lyrics), Ænima, performed by Tool:

     He had a lot to say / He had a lot of nothing to say / We'll miss him / We'll miss him / We're gonna miss him / We're gonna miss him / So long / We wish you well / You told us how you weren't afraid to die / Well, so long / Don't cry / Or feel too down / Not all martyrs see divinity / But at least you tried / Standing above the crowd / He had a voice that was strong and loud / We'll miss him / We'll miss him

Translations

informal: goodbye

Armenian: ցե (cʻe), հաջո՛ղ (hy) (haǰóġ) Azerbaijani: hələlik (az) Chinese: Mandarin: 拜拜 (zh) (báibái), 再見 / 再见 (zh) (zàijiàn) Finnish: moikka (fi) French: à bientôt (fr), salut (fr) German: bis bald (de) Hebrew: כל טוב (kol tov) Hungarian: viszlát (hu), szia (hu) Icelandic: sjáumst (is) Italian: addio (it), a presto Norwegian: ha det Polish: na razie (pl), do widzenia (pl), do zobaczenia (pl) Russian: пока́ (ru) (poká), до ско́рого (do skórovo) Spanish: hasta la vista (es), hasta pronto (es), hasta luego (es), nos vemos (es) Swedish: ajöss (sv) Turkish: elveda (tr) Vietnamese: tạm biệt (vi) Walloon: disca (wa), ada (wa)

See also

• so long as

References

• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “so long”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.
• “so long”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025), “so long”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• Golson, Longos, logons, logs on, loongs