Awhile

Part of speech: adverb

Pronunciation: /əˈwaɪl/

Definitions

1. For a limited duration of time
2. In a fleeting moment or brief span of occurrences
3. Lasting a small amount of time before ending

Etymology: "Awhile" is a compound built from two Old English words: "āne," meaning "for a," and "hwīle," meaning "while," or a span of time. Put together, they mean something like "for a [period of] time," and the adverb still carries that sense of a short stretch of time, as in "stay awhile." The surprising part is the spelling. Today we write "awhile" as one word, but for much of its life it was split: "a while," with the article and noun separate, and that split is still the form you need after a preposition, as in "for a while." The fused adverb only settled into a single word over time, so the everyday question of whether to write it as one word or two is really a leftover from its two-part origin.

Synonyms: for a while, briefly, temporarily

Antonyms: permanently, forever