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Glite Dictionary
BTW

BTW

7.2
To add a short extra comment in a message or conversation
  • symbol
  • Texting
translation icon : por cierto
  • The brown shade is called Sandy, BTW, if you were wondering.

And I have already this morning done me SPF BTW, this super goop glow screen.

Examples

  • I'll be late to the party; BTW, could you save me some cake?

  • And I have already this morning done me SPF BTW, this super goop glow screen.

    Zoe Sugg

  • The meeting starts at 3 PM, but I wanted to mention, BTW, that we have a guest speaker joining us.

  • We're meeting at the cafe at noon. BTW, don't forget to bring your laptop.

Synonyms

by the way
vsBTW
  • Informal
448 1.5

To introduce a new topic that is not directly related

is the abbreviated informal form used in casual messages
incidentally
vsBTW
159 4.8

To add extra information not directly related

is the shortened informal form used in quick casual messages
FYI
vsBTW
5.9

A short message to share information that does not need a reply

is instead a brief conversational insertion adding unrelated information

Surface Forms

BTW main

Morphology

BTW = the + way (semi-transparent) = B + T + W

An initialism formed from the initial letters of the phrase 'by the way', so the link to the base phrase and meaning is direct and predictable. [Postprocessing: moved 'by' from base_words to prefix] [Postprocessing: changed transparency from 'transparent' to 'semi-transparent' for abbreviation]

Etymology

The abbreviation BTW comes from the phrase by the way, which is like saying 'oh, and one more thing'. So, using BTW quickly introduces extra or side information.