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''bylaw'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260904120411-00-⌔

bylaw - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

Noun

bylaw (plural bylaws)

  • A local custom or law of a settlement or district.
  • (often in the plural) A rule made by a local authority to regulate its own affairs.
    • ✤ Synonym: (US) ordinance
    • (countable, in the singular) A numbered provision within such kind of legislation.
  • A law or rule governing the internal affairs of an organization (e.g., corporation or business).

Etymology

From Middle English bylawe, bilawe, partly from Old English bīlage (“bylaw”) and partly from a variant of Middle English byrelawe, birlawe, from Old Norse býjar (“town ‘s; settlement ‘s”) + lǫg (“laws; jurisdiction”). Byrlaw is attested earlier in English but is unattested in Old Norse and the cognates in Scandinavian languages follow the development of bylaw: Danish bylov (“municipal law”), Swedish bylag and byalag.1

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA: /ˈbaɪ.lɔː/
  • Audio (Southern England): 🔊
  • (US) IPA: /ˈbaɪ.lɔ/
  • (cot–caught merger) IPA: /ˈbaɪ.lɑ/

Printed 2026-09-04.

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Footnotes

  1. Oxford English Dictionary, “by-law | bye-law, n.” Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1888. ↩