Etymology

bygone

by·gone
B3Y4G2O1N1E1

Today it means: Having been or happened in the distant past. Full definition →

English gone ← Middle English by ← Old English bī
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European*h₁ep-
  2. Proto-Indo-European*h₁éps
  3. Proto-Indo-European*h₁épi
  4. Proto-Indo-European*h₁pi
  5. Proto-Germanic*bi
  6. Proto-West Germanic*bī
  7. Old Englishbī
  8. Middle Englishby
  9. Englishby
  10. Englishgone
  11. English todaybygone

From by (adverb) + gone. See go by.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.