What does alway mean?
"Alway" is an archaic English adverb meaning "at all times" or "on every occasion" — in short, what modern speakers express with "always." It derives from the Old English phrase ealne weg, literally "all (the) way," which over centuries was compressed into a single word; the final -s that produced "always" appeared later, likely by analogy with other adverbs formed with genitive endings such as "besides" and "unawares." For much of the Middle English and Early Modern English periods, both "alway" and "always" coexisted freely, and the shorter form appears throughout older literature, liturgy, and the King James Bible era of writing. Today, however, "alway" is effectively obsolete. Encountering it outside historical texts, hymnals, or deliberate stylistic archaism, most readers will take it for a typographical slip. Its chief interest now lies in what it reveals about word formation: a transparent phrase worn smooth by daily use into an unanalyzable single syllable-plus. Anyone reading Chaucer, early devotional works, or seventeenth-century prose will meet it often enough to recognize it on sight.
adverbArchaic form of "always"; at all times or on every occasion. Now largely obsolete, surviving mainly in older literary and religious texts.
- At all times; on every occasion (archaic equivalent of modern "always")
"The monk rose before dawn, as he had done alway since his novitiate."
"The lighthouse keeper trimmed the lamp each evening, as his father had done alway before him."
"In the old prayer book, the congregation pledged to keep the faith, world without end, alway."
Before it gained its final -s, "always" was simply "alway" — literally the Old English phrase ealne weg, "all the way," worn down by centuries of speech into one word.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of alway
"Alway" descends from the Old English phrase ealne weg, meaning "all the way" or "at all times." Through Middle English this phrase contracted into a single adverb, spelled variously as "alwei" and "alway." The familiar final -s of modern "always" developed in late Middle English, probably under the influence of adverbs built on genitive forms like "always"-type formations (compare "besides," "once"). Both forms circulated side by side until "always" prevailed, leaving "alway" as a literary fossil. The underlying root is the Germanic word for "way," cognate with related formations such as "away."
Related word forms
How alway is actually used
"Alway" is archaic and would strike modern readers as an error if encountered outside historical, literary, or deliberately archaizing contexts. Writers today should use "always." The word survives chiefly in early printed texts, hymns, and quotations from Middle and Early Modern English.
Easily confused with alway
"Alway" is the older, now archaic single-syllable-ended form, while "always" is the standard modern spelling used in all contemporary writing.
"Allay" is a verb meaning to reduce or calm something such as fear or suspicion, whereas "alway" is an archaic adverb meaning at all times.