English
meanwhile
Meanwhile comes from Middle English menewhile.
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, English meanwhile
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1955, Winston Churchill, Defence: “The day may dawn when fair play, love for…”.
Lineage
- Middle Englishc. 1150–1500menewhileWiktionary, English meanwhile
- Englishearliest quotation 1955meanwhileWiktionary, English meanwhile. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 1955, Winston Churchill, Defence: “The day may dawn when fair play, love for…”
A compound of mean ‘intermediate’ + while
Proto-Indo-European *meyn- ‘to think’
Proto-Germanic *mainijaną ‘to mean, think’
Proto-West Germanic *mainijan
Old English mǣnan ‘to mean; to say, relate’
Middle English menen ‘to intend’
English mean
Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- ‘to rest’
…
Proto-Germanic *hwīlō ‘time’
Proto-West Germanic *hwīlu ‘period of rest’
Old English hwīl ‘while’
Middle English whyle
English while
The story
Adverb is by ellipsis from in the mean while, noun being conventionally written as one word after the adjective.
Every English word from Middle English menewhile
Today it means
noun The time between two events.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “meanwhile”. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Middle English menewhile / meanwhile