English

day job

One's principal job; one's regular means of income.

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    Origin

    From day + job, reflecting the archetypal form: one's job during the daytime, as contrasted with a second job that one works at night, on the night shift or graveyard shift.

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • partEnglishday “The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.”
      • inheritedMiddle Englishday “servant”
        • inheritedOld Englishdæġ “day”
    • partEnglishjob “A task.”
      • inheritedMiddle Englishjobben
      • inheritedMiddle Englishgobbe “mass, lump”
        • derivedOld Frenchgobet

    Sources