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Etymology data from Wiktionary via Wiktextract (CC BY-SA 4.0). Chinese character data from the 說文解字, the Taiwan MOE 國語辭典簡編本 (CC BY-ND 3.0 TW) and HSK/TOCFL lists.

Explanations are written by a local model (gemma4) and only published after a verification pass against the cited sources. How it works.

English

day

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

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    • meaning component
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    Origin

    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”).

    From Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

    Lineage

    • inheritedMiddle Englishday “servant”
      • inheritedOld Englishdæġ “day”
        • inheritedProto-West Germanic*dag
          • inheritedProto-Germanic*dagaz “day”
            • inheritedProto-Indo-European*dʰegʷʰ- “to burn”

    Related: Scots day, Yola daie, North Frisian dai, Saterland Frisian Dai, West Frisian dei, Bavarian Dåg, Central Franconian Daach, Cimbrian tag, Dutch dag, German Tag, German Low German Dag, Limburgish Daach, Luxembourgish Dag, Mòcheno ta, Vilamovian taog, West Flemish dag, Yiddish טאָג, da,nb,nn,sv dag, fo,is dagur, Norn dagh, Crimean Gothic tag, Gothic 𐌳𐌰𐌲𐍃, Vandalic *dag-, Breton deviñ

    Words built on it: days, all-day, today, day man, law day, person-day, daily, day job, D-Day

    Meanings

    noun
    1. The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.
    2. A period of time equal or almost equal to a full day-night cycle, being 24 hours long.
    3. The time taken for the Sun to seem to be in the same place in the sky twice; a solar day.
    4. 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.
    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.
    verb
    1. To spend a day (in a place).

    Sources

    • Wiktionary (via Wiktextract / kaikki.org) — CC BY-SA 4.0
    • Wiktionary: day