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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

whilst.

Often preceded by the: During the time; meanwhile.

6 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adv/waɪlst/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ʍaɪlst//wɪlst/UK, US, proscribed, sometimes

  1. Often preceded by the: During the time; meanwhile.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

From Late Middle English whilst, whilest, qwhilste (Northern England), quilest (Northwest Midlands) [and other forms], from whiles (“during the time that, while; only so long as; provided that; because, since; until”) + -t (excrescent suffix, perhaps due to a combination of -(e)s and the following word the, or influenced by the superlative suffix -est). Whiles is derived from whiles (“period of time, a while”, noun) (probably from the second element of adverbs and conjunctions like otherwhiles and somewhiles), from while (“period of time, a while”, noun) + -s (suffix forming adverbs of manner, space, and time); and while is from Old English hwīl (“period of time, a while”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (“period of time, a while; period of rest, break, pause”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest; peace, rest”). The English word can be analysed as whiles + -t (excrescent suffix appended to words suffixed with -s). cognates * West Frisian wylst (“whilst”)

conj/waɪlst/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/ʍaɪlst//wɪlst/UK, US, proscribed, sometimes

  1. Synonym of while. During the whole, or until the end, of the time that; as long as, at the same time.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · literary · rare
    Drivers must switch off engines whilst on stand.

  2. Synonym of while. Within, or before the end, of the time that.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · literary · rare

  3. Synonym of while. Although; in contrast; whereas.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · literary · rare

  4. Synonym of while. Besides; in addition.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · literary · rare

  5. Synonym of while. Only if; provided that; as long as; so long as.

    Commonwealth · Ireland · UK · literary · rare
Where this word comes from

From Late Middle English whilst, whilest, qwhilste (Northern England), quilest (Northwest Midlands) [and other forms], from whiles (“during the time that, while; only so long as; provided that; because, since; until”) + -t (excrescent suffix, perhaps due to a combination of -(e)s and the following word the, or influenced by the superlative suffix -est). Whiles is derived from whiles (“period of time, a while”, noun) (probably from the second element of adverbs and conjunctions like otherwhiles and somewhiles), from while (“period of time, a while”, noun) + -s (suffix forming adverbs of manner, space, and time); and while is from Old English hwīl (“period of time, a while”), ultimately from Proto-Germanic *hwīlō (“period of time, a while; period of rest, break, pause”), from Proto-Indo-European *kʷyeh₁- (“to rest; peace, rest”). The English word can be analysed as whiles + -t (excrescent suffix appended to words suffixed with -s). cognates * West Frisian wylst (“whilst”)

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.