Meanings
- Northern EnglandScotlandnot comparableSubsequently; then.First known use 14th c.
Sic a pair o' friends aa nivvor seed either before or syne.
1894, Howard Pease, The Mark o' The Deil And Other Northumbrian Tales, page 202 more examples
At last he comes, and on his knee The wee tots a'thegether cling, An' ilk yen strives to catch his ee, Syne tugs his cwoat an' bids him sing.
1866, Susanna Blamire, edited by Sidney Gilpin, Songs and Poems, page 17Yet in two-three years they'd chaved and saved enough for gear and furnishings, and were married at last, and syne Will was born, and syne Chris herself was born, and the Guthries rented a farm in Echt […].
1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair; 1), Polygon, published 2006, page 38Synonyms: ensuingly
- Northern EnglandScotlandnot comparableLate.
[Each rogue] shall be discovered either soon or syne.
W. Hamilton (Life of Wallace)1 more example
"I had rather it came to-morrow than a month hence. Come, I know, it will; and, as your country folks say, better soon than syne […]
1843, Walter Scott, Waverly, page 357 - Northern EnglandScotlandnot comparableBefore now; ago.First known use 16th c.
I eat, drink, and sleep as sound as I did twenty years syne; yes, I laugh heartily too, and find as many subjects to employ that faculty upon as ever; fools, fops, and knaves, grow as rank as formerly, yet here and there, […]
1808, Allan Ramsay, The Gentle Sheperd, page 641 more example
Camden Lyde had come to dwell in Mapleblade, a long while syne. His father had been in times past the parish parson, and the son was kindly affectionate to the old village scenes, and to the faces that seemed in some sort to belong to him[…]
1859, Old and Young, page 11
- Northern EnglandScotlandSince.
I've niver set fute i' Gibb's Ha' syne his father's death.
1840, Howitt, Hope On, page ii1 more example
Shoo's […] gitten fair pratty, syne Maister Allen gat wed.
1880, Wooers, Banks, III, i
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbSubsequently; then.
Origin
- Middle Englishsyne
- Englishsyne
From Middle English syne, syn, sin, a contracted form of sithen (“since”). More at sithen.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with syne
Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
syne. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/syne
“syne.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/syne. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “syne,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/syne.
Source: syne on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.