# Goodbye

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye/54852>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 17, 2001, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye/54852 "2001-02-17T05:11:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![urban\_rose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f04885/32.png) [@urban\_rose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban_rose)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye/54852/1 "2001-02-17T05:11:36Z")

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Why is it that when I read an old book they spell goodbye as “good-by” but now it’s pretty much an unwritten rule to spell it “goodbye” or “good-bye”?

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye/54852/2 "2001-02-17T05:24:22Z")

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Welcome to the SDMB.

The phrase “Good-Bye” originaly comes from “God-be-with-you”. The pronounciation of such things mutates along the centuries, and the spelling along with them.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [February 17, 2001, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/goodbye/54852/3 "2001-02-17T06:38:44Z")

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I don’t have the most recent OED, which might show some more citations, but the earlier edition did not even have a reference to “good-by.” They show “Good bwy” (God be wi’ y(e)) from the early 1700s, then “good-bye” from 1811.