A Japanese word used to say goodbye, often implying a final or long farewell.
From Japanese 'さよなら' (sayonara), possibly derived from 'sayō nara' meaning 'if that be the case,' evolved into a casual goodbye. It entered English after World War II through American contact with Japanese culture.
Sayonara sounds so final and dramatic that English speakers often use it as a joke when saying temporary goodbyes, but in Japanese it actually works for everyday farewells—the emotional weight is mostly something English speakers added to it!
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