English

while

/ʍaɪl/
An uncertain duration of time, a period of time.

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    Origin

    From Middle English whyle, from Old English hwīl, from Proto-West Germanic *hwīlu, from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (compare Dutch wijl, Low German Wiel, German Weile, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål hvile (“rest”), Norwegian Nynorsk kvila (“rest”), Swedish vila (“rest”), Faroese and Icelandic hvíla (“rest”)) from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest”). Cognate with Albanian sillë (“breakfast”), Latin tranquillus, Sanskrit चिर (cirá), Persian شاد (šâd).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • rootProto-Indo-European*kʷyeh₁- “to rest; peace, rest”
    • inheritedMiddle Englishwhyle
      • inheritedOld Englishhwīl “period of time, a while”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*hwīlu
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*hwīlō “period of time, a while; period of rest, break, pause”

    Related: Dutch wijl, Low German Wiel, German Weile, da,nb hvile, Norwegian Nynorsk kvila, Swedish vila, fo,is hvíla, Albanian sillë, Latin tranquillus, Sanskrit चिर, Persian شاد

    Sources