Meanings
alternative BTW · alternative btw
- conjunctiveidiomaticIncidentally; used in referencing a parenthetical statement not timely, central, or crucial to the topic at hand; foregone, passed by, something that has already happened.
His mother will be coming for dinner tomorrow, and, by the way, she recently sold her collection of ceramic eggs.
2 more examples
[…] I had counted on a life-lease of the profits, whereas I only received those of a few short years. But this is by the way.
1853, Herman Melville, “Bartleby, the Scrivener”, in The Piazza Tales, New York: Dix, Edwards & Co, published 1856“A very welcome, kind, useful present, that means to the parish. By the way, Hopkins, let this go no further. We don't want the tale running round that a rich person has arrived. Churchill, my dear fellow, we have such greedy sharks, and wolves in lamb's clothing.[…]”
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter VII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLCSynonyms: apropos, BTW, by the by, incidentally
Synonyms & antonyms
prepositional phraseIncidentally; used in referencing a parenthetical statement not timely, central, or crucial to the topic at hand; foregone, passed by, something that has already happened.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbintroducing a different topic
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
First appeared in the 10th century with literal meaning "by the side of the road", from Old English weġ (which became "way") meaning "road". Soon afterward (circa 1000) it came to mean "during one's journey". The figurative meaning developed in the mid-16th century, with the first instance of the modern meaning being from 1614.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans terloops
- terloopsincidentally
Arabic بِالْمُنَاسَبَةِ, عَلَى فِكْرَةٍ
- بِالْمُنَاسَبَةِ (bi-l-munāsabati)incidentally
- عَلَى فِكْرَةٍ (ʕalā fikratin)incidentally
Bulgarian между́ дру́гото, впро́чем
- между́ дру́гото (meždú drúgoto)incidentally
- впро́чем (vpróčem)incidentally
Catalan per cert
- per certincidentally
Chinese Cantonese 話時話 /话时话, 講開又講 /讲开又讲
- 話時話 /话时话 (waa⁶ si⁴ waa⁶)incidentally
- 講開又講 /讲开又讲 (gong² hoi¹ jau³ gong²)incidentally
Chinese Mandarin 對了 /对了, 話說 /话说
- 對了 /对了 (duìle)incidentally
- 話說 /话说 (huàshuō)incidentally
Czech mimochodem
- mimochodemincidentally
Danish for resten, forresten
- for restenincidentally
- forrestenincidentally
Dutch trouwens, overigens
- trouwensincidentally
- overigensincidentally
- nu dat ik eraan denkincidentally
- tussen haakjesincidentally
- terloops gezegdincidentally
Esperanto parenteze, cetere
- parentezeincidentally
- cetereincidentally
Estonian muuseas, muide
- muuseasincidentally
- muideincidentally
- muuhulgasincidentally
- muideksincidentally
Finnish muuten
- muutenincidentally
French soit dit en passant, tout bien considéré
- soit dit en passantincidentally
- tout bien considéréincidentally
- au passageincidentally
- à proposincidentally
- au faitincidentally
- d'ailleursincidentally
German apropos, nebenbei
- aproposincidentally
- nebenbeiincidentally
- übrigensincidentally
Greek επί τη ευκαιρία, επ’ ευκαιρία
- επί τη ευκαιρία (epí ti efkairía)incidentally
- επ’ ευκαιρία (ep’ efkairía)incidentally
Hebrew אַגַּב, דרך אגב
- אַגַּב (agáv)incidentally
- דרך אגב (dérekh agáv)incidentally
Hindi वैसे
- वैसे (vaise)incidentally
Hungarian egyébként, mellesleg
- egyébkéntincidentally
- melleslegincidentally
Icelandic vel á minnst, meðal annarra orða
- vel á minnstincidentally
- meðal annarra orðaincidentally
Indonesian ngomong ngomong
- ngomong ngomongincidentally
Irish dála an scéil
- dála an scéilincidentally
Italian a proposito, incidentalmente
- a propositoincidentally
- incidentalmenteincidentally
- per casoincidentally
Japanese ところで, ちなみに
- ところで (tokoro de)incidentally
- ちなみに (chinami ni)incidentally
Korean 그런데, 참
- 그런데 (geureonde)incidentally
- 참 (cham)incidentally
Latin cēterum
- cēterumincidentally
Latvian starp citu
- starp cituincidentally
Lithuanian beje, tarp kitko
- bejeincidentally
- tarp kitkoincidentally
Norwegian forresten
- forrestenincidentally
Persian راستی
- راستی (râsti)incidentally
Polish swoją drogą, (a) tak w ogóle
- swoją drogąincidentally
- (a) tak w ogóleincidentally
- przy okazjiincidentally
- à proposincidentally
- nawiasem mówiącincidentally
- na marginesieincidentally
Portuguese a propósito, aliás
- a propósitoincidentally
- aliásincidentally
- por sinalincidentally
- diga-se de passagemincidentally
- já agoraincidentally
Romanian apropo
- apropoincidentally
Russian кста́ти, ме́жду про́чим
- кста́ти (kstáti)incidentally
- ме́жду про́чим (méždu próčim)incidentally
Scottish Gaelic eadar dà sgeul, eadar dhà sheanchas
- eadar dà sgeulincidentally
- eadar dhà sheanchasincidentally
Slovak mimochodom
- mimochodomincidentally
Spanish por cierto, de paso
- por ciertoincidentally
- de pasoincidentally
- dicho sea de pasoincidentally
- a propósitoincidentally
- a todo estoincidentally
- hablando de todo un pocoincidentally
- hablando un poco de todoincidentally
Swedish förresten, för övrigt
- förrestenincidentally
- för övrigtincidentally
- bara så att du vetincidentally
Turkish aklıma gelmişken, bu arada
- aklıma gelmişkenincidentally
- bu aradaincidentally
- sırası gelmişkenincidentally
Ukrainian до ре́чі, між і́ншим
- до ре́чі (do réči)incidentally
- між і́ншим (miž ínšym)incidentally
Urdu ویسے
- ویسے (vaise)incidentally
Vietnamese nhân đây, à này
- nhân đâyincidentally
- à nàyincidentally
- tiện thểincidentally
Welsh gyda llaw
- gyda llawincidentally
Yiddish אַגבֿ, אַגבֿ־אורחא
- אַגבֿ (agev)incidentally
- אַגבֿ־אורחא (agev-urkhe)incidentally
Cite this entry
by the way. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20the%20way
“by the way.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20the%20way. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “by the way,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/by%20the%20way.
Source: by the way on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.