Whilst
/waɪlst/noun
A formal or literary conjunction meaning “while” or “during the time that.”
Did you know?Whilst is just an older English form of **while**, and the -st ending is a fossil from an old comparative/superlative-style suffix that survived in a few archaic forms before fading away.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Indo-European
PIE
*kʷi-
“Interrogative/relative base meaning roughly “who? what? which?””
Old English
OE
hwīl
“A period of time; a while”
Old English
OE
hwīlest
“During the time that; while”
Middle English
ME
whilest
“While; at the same time that”
Modern English
EN
whilst
“While; during the time that, especially in formal or literary use”