Away

How to spell away

4 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce away

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does away mean?

1. adverbTo or at a distance from a particular place or person; absent or in another direction.

Away in a sentence

• She drove away before the traffic built up.

• The manager was away from the office all week.

Where does away come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

The word comes from Old English aweg or onweg, a contraction of the phrase on weg, which literally meant 'on the way' or 'on a journey'. The little prefix a- here is a worn-down form of the preposition on, the same shrunken element seen in words like 'asleep' (on sleep) and 'ashore' (on shore). Over time the sense broadened from describing motion along a path to meaning simply 'off, at a distance, or absent'. The word is purely native Germanic in origin and has been in continuous use since the earliest English writings, which is why it stayed short and phonetically regular. Its everyday familiarity means modern spellers rarely stumble, the only faint trap being whether to write it as one word or two.

How the word is built

• a- (Old English on/in)
• way (path, direction)