BY - Definition & Meaning for Kids
Meaning 1
Part of speech: Adverb
so as to pass a given point
Example: every hour a train goes past
Synonyms
🌱 Word Origin (Etymology)
The word "by" comes from Proto-Indo-European *h₁epi. It started in Proto-Germanic *bi. Then it appeared in Old English bī. Later, people used it in Middle English by. Many other languages have similar words:.
- West Frisian: by
- Afrikaans: by
- Saterland Frisian: bie
- Dutch: bij
- German Low German: bi
- German: bei
🧩 Fun Fact
A word passing through this many languages survived because it named something universally important.