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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

day.

The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.

3 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/deɪ̯/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dæɪ̯/[dɛɪ̯]
  1. The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.

    day and night;  I work at night and sleep during the day.
  2. A period of time equal or almost equal to a full day-night cycle, being 24 hours long.

    I've been here for two days and a bit.
  3. A period of time equal or almost equal to a full day-night cycle, being 24 hours long. The time taken for the Sun to seem to be in the same place in the sky twice; a solar day.

  4. A period of time equal or almost equal to a full day-night cycle, being 24 hours long. The time taken for the Earth to make a full rotation about its axis with respect to the fixed stars; a sidereal day or stellar day.

  5. A 24-hour period beginning at 6am or sunrise.

    informal
    Your 8am forecast: The high for the day will be 30 and the low, before dawn, will be 10.
  6. A period of time between two set times which mark the beginning and the end of day in a calendar, such as from midnight to the following midnight or (Judaism) from nightfall to the following nightfall.

    The day begins at midnight.
    Monday is the first day of the week in many countries of the world.
  7. The rotational period of a planet.

    A day on Mars is slightly over 24 hours.
  8. The part of a day period which one spends at one’s job, school, etc.

    I worked two days last week.
  9. An observance lasting for a day, such as an annual holiday.

    Christmas Day
    Remembrance Day
  10. A day set aside for a specified activity.

    leg day, moving day, observation day
  11. A specified time or period; time, considered with reference to the existence or prominence of a person or thing; age; time; era.

    every dog has its day; in that day; back in the day; in those days
  12. A period of contention of a day or less.

    The day belonged to the Allies.
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ-? Proto-Germanic *dagaz Proto-West Germanic *dag Old English dæġ Middle English day English day Inherited from Middle English day, from Old English dæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dag, from Proto-Germanic *dagaz (“day”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”). Cognates Cognate with Scots day, dei, dey, dy (“day”), Yola daie, dei, dey, die (“day”), North Frisian dai, doi, däi (“day”), Saterland Frisian Dai (“day”), West Frisian dei (“day”), Bavarian Dåg, Tåg (“day”), Central Franconian Daach (“day”), Cimbrian tag, tage (“day”), Dutch dag, dagge (“day”), German Tag (“day”), German Low German Dag, Dagg (“day”), Limburgish Daach, Daag (“day”), Luxembourgish Dag (“day”), Mòcheno ta (“day”), Vilamovian taog (“day”), West Flemish dag (“day”), Yiddish טאָג (tog, “day”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish dag (“day”), Faroese and Icelandic dagur (“day”), Norn dagh (“day”), Crimean Gothic tag (“day”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags, “day”), Vandalic *dag- (“day”); also Breton deviñ (“to burn”), Cornish dewi (“to kindle”), Irish daigh (“fire, flame”), dóigh (“to burn, singe; sear, scorch”), Manx daah (“to scorch, singe; to cauterize”), Scottish Gaelic dòth (“scorch, singe; burn”), Welsh deifio (“to scorch, singe”), Latin foveō (“to warm, keep warm”), Greek τέφρα (téfra, “ash, cinder”), Albanian dhez, ndez (“to kindle, light”), Old Prussian dagis (“summer”), Armenian հրդեհ (hrdeh, “fire”), Sanskrit दह् (dah, “to burn, consume by fire, scorch, roast”).

verb/deɪ̯/General-American, Received-Pronunciation/dæɪ̯/[dɛɪ̯]
  1. To spend a day (in a place).

    intransitive · rare
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ-? Proto-Germanic *dagaz Proto-West Germanic *dag Old English dæġ Middle English day English day Inherited from Middle English day, from Old English dæġ, from Proto-West Germanic *dag, from Proto-Germanic *dagaz (“day”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“to burn”). Cognates Cognate with Scots day, dei, dey, dy (“day”), Yola daie, dei, dey, die (“day”), North Frisian dai, doi, däi (“day”), Saterland Frisian Dai (“day”), West Frisian dei (“day”), Bavarian Dåg, Tåg (“day”), Central Franconian Daach (“day”), Cimbrian tag, tage (“day”), Dutch dag, dagge (“day”), German Tag (“day”), German Low German Dag, Dagg (“day”), Limburgish Daach, Daag (“day”), Luxembourgish Dag (“day”), Mòcheno ta (“day”), Vilamovian taog (“day”), West Flemish dag (“day”), Yiddish טאָג (tog, “day”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish dag (“day”), Faroese and Icelandic dagur (“day”), Norn dagh (“day”), Crimean Gothic tag (“day”), Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃 (dags, “day”), Vandalic *dag- (“day”); also Breton deviñ (“to burn”), Cornish dewi (“to kindle”), Irish daigh (“fire, flame”), dóigh (“to burn, singe; sear, scorch”), Manx daah (“to scorch, singe; to cauterize”), Scottish Gaelic dòth (“scorch, singe; burn”), Welsh deifio (“to scorch, singe”), Latin foveō (“to warm, keep warm”), Greek τέφρα (téfra, “ash, cinder”), Albanian dhez, ndez (“to kindle, light”), Old Prussian dagis (“summer”), Armenian հրդեհ (hrdeh, “fire”), Sanskrit दह् (dah, “to burn, consume by fire, scorch, roast”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.