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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

yesterday.

The day immediately before today; one day ago.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈjɛstədeɪ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈjɛstədɪ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈjɪstədə/Northumbria/ˈjɛstɹdeɪ/General-American

  1. The day immediately before today; one day ago.

    Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow.
    Yesterday was rainy, but by this morning it had begun to snow.

  2. The past, often in terms of being outdated.

    figuratively
    yesterday's technology
    The worker of today is different from that of yesterday.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English yesterday, yisterday, ȝesterdai, ȝisterdai, from Old English ġiestrandæġ, ġister dæġ, ġestor dæġ, ġeostran dæġ (“yesterday”), by surface analysis, yester- + day. Cognate with Scots yisterday, yesterday (“yesterday”), Saterland Frisian jässendeeg, järsendeges (“yesterday”, adverb), West Frisian justerdei (“yesterday”), Dutch gisterdag (“yesterday”), dialectal German gestertag (“yesterday”), Swedish gårdag (“yesterday”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (gistradagis, “tomorrow”, adverb). Compare further Dutch gisteren (“yesterday”), German gestern (“yesterday”).

adv/ˈjɛstədeɪ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈjɛstədɪ/Received-Pronunciation/ˈjɪstədə/Northumbria/ˈjɛstɹdeɪ/General-American

  1. On the day before today.

    not-comparable
    I started to watch the video yesterday, but could only finish it this evening.

  2. As soon as possible.

    informal · not-comparable
    I want this done yesterday!
    I need it yesterday!
Where this word comes from

From Middle English yesterday, yisterday, ȝesterdai, ȝisterdai, from Old English ġiestrandæġ, ġister dæġ, ġestor dæġ, ġeostran dæġ (“yesterday”), by surface analysis, yester- + day. Cognate with Scots yisterday, yesterday (“yesterday”), Saterland Frisian jässendeeg, järsendeges (“yesterday”, adverb), West Frisian justerdei (“yesterday”), Dutch gisterdag (“yesterday”), dialectal German gestertag (“yesterday”), Swedish gårdag (“yesterday”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (gistradagis, “tomorrow”, adverb). Compare further Dutch gisteren (“yesterday”), German gestern (“yesterday”).

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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.