awhile

UK: /əˈ^hwaɪl/ US: /əˈhwaɪl, əˈwaɪl/ ,(ə hwīl′, ə wīl′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

a•while /əˈhwaɪl, əˈwaɪl/   adv. 

1. Pronouns for a short time:
   Stay awhile.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

a•while  (ə hwīl′, ə wīl′), adv. 

1. Pronouns for a short time or period:
   Stay awhile.

• bef. 1000; Middle English; Old English āne hwīle (dative); see a¹, while

Usage

The adverb awhile is spelled as a single word:
After stopping in Hadley awhile, we drove to Deerfield.
As the object of a preposition, the noun phrase a while is used, especially in edited writing, but the single-word form is becoming increasingly common:
We rested for a while
(or awhile).

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

awhile / əˈwaɪl/ adverb

1. for a brief period