birthday

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UK/ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/UK/ˈbɜːθ.dei/Canada, US/ˈbɝθˌdeɪ/

noun

The anniversary of the day on which someone is born.

“When's your birthday? Mine's on April 1.”

Similar
natal day
OriginMiddle English birthdai ← Old English ġebyrddæġ ← Proto-West Germanic *gaburdidag →
Very commonFirst used 1570sScrabble 17
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Meanings

nounbirthday (plural birthdays)

plural birthdays · alternative archaic birth-day · alternative pronunciation spelling birfday · alternative archaic birthdaye

  1. The anniversary of the day on which someone is born.First known use 1570s

    When's your birthday? Mine's on April 1.

    5 more examples

    I'll be thirty-seven (years old) next birthday.

    My fortieth birthday is only two years off!

    Oliver Twist's ninth birthday found him a pale thin child, somewhat diminutive in stature, and decidedly small in circumference.

    1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], chapter 2, in Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC

    1903, L. Frank Baum, The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo and His People, The Fifth Surprise: The Monarch Celebrates His Birthday, One of the Wise Men said the King was born in February; another declared it was in May, and a third figured the great event happened in October. So the King issued a royal decree that he should have three birthdays every year, in order to be on the safe side; and whenever he happened to think of it he put in an odd birthday or two for luck.

    1906, Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children, Chapter 9: The pride of Perks, "And we thought we'd make a nice birthday for him. He's been so awfully jolly decent to us, you know, Mother," said Peter, "and we agreed that next bun-day we'd ask you if we could."

    Synonyms: natal day

  2. The anniversary of the day on which something is created.
  3. The date on which someone is born or something is created, more commonly called birthdate or date of birth.
  4. A birthday party.

    I'd like to invite you all to my birthday.

verbbirthday (third-person singular simple present birthdays, present participle birthdaying, simple past and past participle birthdayed)

present singular third person birthdays · participle present birthdaying · participle past birthdayed · past birthdayed · alternative archaic birth-day · alternative pronunciation spelling birfday · alternative archaic birthdaye

  1. informalintransitiveTo celebrate one's birthday.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounThe anniversary of the day on which someone is born.

Similar
natal day

More synonyms by meaning

nounthe date on which a person was born

Similar
natal day
Broader
dateday of the month
Also see
natal dayyearday

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Proto-West Germanic*gaburdidag
  2. Old Englishġebyrddæġ
  3. Middle Englishbirthdai
  4. Englishbirthday

From Middle English birthdai, birtheday, from Old English ġebyrddæġ (“birthday”), influenced by Old Norse burðr, equivalent to birth + day. Compare Saterland Frisian Gebuursdai (“birthday”), Dutch geboortedag (“birthday”), Low German Geboortsdag (“birthday”), German Geburtstag (“birthday”), Norwegian bursdag, gebursdag (“birthday”). Eclipsed non-native Middle English nativitee (“birth, nativity, birthday”), from Old French nativité, nativited, from Latin nātīvitas.

More words from Middle English, Old English

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Afrikaans verjaarsdag
  • verjaarsdaganniversary
Ancient Greek γενέθλιος
  • γενέθλιος (genéthlios)anniversary
Arabic عِيد مِيلَاد, يَوْم مِيلَاد
  • عِيد مِيلَاد (ʕīd mīlād)anniversary
  • يَوْم مِيلَاد (yawm mīlād)anniversary
Basque urtebetetze, urtemuga
  • urtebetetzeanniversary
  • urtemugaanniversary
  • egunanniversary
Bengali জন্মদিন, জন্মদিন
  • জন্মদিন (jonmodin)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • জন্মদিন (jonmodin)anniversary
Bulgarian ден на ра́ждане, да́та на ра́ждане
  • ден на ра́ждане (den na ráždane)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • да́та на ра́ждане (dáta na ráždane)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • рожде́на да́та (roždéna dáta)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • рожде́н ден (roždén den)anniversary
Catalan data de naixement, aniversari
  • data de naixementdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • aniversarianniversary
  • natalicianniversary
Chinese Cantonese 出生日期, 生日
  • 出生日期 (ceot¹ sang¹ jat⁶ kei⁴)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • 生日 (saang¹ jat⁶)anniversary
  • 生辰 (saang¹ san⁴)anniversary
  • 牛一 (ngau⁴ jat¹)anniversary
Chinese Mandarin 出生日期, 生日
  • 出生日期 (chūshēngrìqī)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • 生日 (shēngrì)anniversary
  • 生辰 (shēngchén)anniversary
Czech narozeniny, narozeniny
  • narozeninydate of birth — see also date of birth
  • narozeninyanniversary
Danish fødselsdag, fødselsdato
  • fødselsdagdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • fødselsdatodate of birth — see also date of birth
  • fødselsdaganniversary
Dutch geboortedag, geboortedatum
  • geboortedagdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • geboortedatumdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • verjaardaganniversary
Esperanto naskiĝotago, naskotago
  • naskiĝotagoanniversary
  • naskotagoanniversary
  • naskiĝtagoanniversary
Estonian sünnipäev, sünnipäev
  • sünnipäevdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • sünnipäevanniversary
  • sünnaanniversary
  • sünkaranniversary
Finnish syntymäaika, synnyinpäivä
  • syntymäaikadate of birth — see also date of birth
  • synnyinpäivädate of birth — see also date of birth
  • syntymäpäivädate of birth — see also date of birth
  • syntymäpäiväanniversary
  • synttäritanniversary
French date de naissance, anniversaire
  • date de naissancedate of birth — see also date of birth
  • anniversaireanniversary
  • fêteanniversary
German Geburtsdatum, Geburtstag
  • Geburtsdatumdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • Geburtstaganniversary
Greek ημερομηνία γεννήσεως, γενέθλια
  • ημερομηνία γεννήσεως (imerominía genníseos)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • γενέθλια (genéthlia)anniversary
Hawaiian lā hānau
  • lā hānauanniversary
Hebrew יום הולדת, יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת
  • יום הולדתanniversary
  • יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת (yóm hulédet)anniversary
Hindi जन्मतिथि, जन्मदिन
  • जन्मतिथि (janmatithi)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • जन्मदिन (janmadin)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • जन्मदिन (janmadin)anniversary
  • सालगिरह (sālgirah)anniversary
Hungarian születésnap, születési idő
  • születésnapdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • születési idődate of birth — see also date of birth
  • születésnapanniversary
Icelandic afmæli, afmælisdagur
  • afmælidate of birth — see also date of birth
  • afmælisdaguranniversary
  • fæðingardaguranniversary
Indonesian hari lahir, ulang tahun
  • hari lahirdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • ulang tahunanniversary
Irish lá breithe, breithlá
  • lá breitheanniversary
  • breithláanniversary
Italian data di nascita, compleanno
  • data di nascitadate of birth — see also date of birth
  • compleannoanniversary
Japanese 生年月日, 誕生日
  • 生年月日 (seinengappi)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • 誕生日 (tanjōbi)anniversary
  • バースデー (bāsudē)anniversary
  • 生日 (seijitsu)anniversary
  • お誕生日 (o-tanjōbi)anniversary
  • 誕辰 (tanshin)anniversary
Korean 생년월일, 생일
  • 생년월일 (saengnyeonworil)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • 생일 (saeng'il)anniversary
  • 생일(生日)날 (saeng'illal)anniversary
  • 생신 (saengsin)anniversary
  • 생신(生辰)날 (saengsinnal)anniversary
  • 탄신 (tansin)anniversary
  • 탄신일 (tansinil)anniversary
Latin natalis, natalis
  • natalisdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • natalisdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • diēs nātālisanniversary
  • nātālisanniversary
Latvian dzimšanas datums, dzimšanas diena
  • dzimšanas datumsdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • dzimšanas dienaanniversary
Lithuanian gimtadienis
  • gimtadienisanniversary
Malay hari jadi, hari jadi
  • hari jadidate of birth — see also date of birth
  • hari jadianniversary
  • hari lahiranniversary
Māori rā whānau, rā huritau
  • rā whānaudate of birth — see also date of birth
  • rā huritauanniversary
Norwegian Bokmål fødselsdag, bursdag
  • fødselsdagdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • bursdaganniversary
  • fødselsdaganniversary
  • gebursdaganniversary
Polish data urodzenia, urodziny
  • data urodzeniadate of birth — see also date of birth
  • urodzinyanniversary
Portuguese data de nascimento, aniversário
  • data de nascimentodate of birth — see also date of birth
  • aniversárioanniversary
  • dia de anosanniversary
Punjabi ਜਨਮ-ਦਿਨ
  • ਜਨਮ-ਦਿਨ (janma-din)anniversary
Romanian aniversare, zi de naștere
  • aniversareanniversary
  • zi de naștereanniversary
Russian да́та рожде́ния, день рожде́ния
  • да́та рожде́ния (dáta roždénija)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • день рожде́ния (denʹ roždénija)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • день рожде́ния (denʹ roždénija)anniversary
  • дню́ха (dnjúxa)anniversary
  • имени́ны (imeníny)anniversary
Scottish Gaelic co-là-breith, là-breith
  • co-là-breithdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • là-breithdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • co-là-breithanniversary
  • là-breithanniversary
Slovak narodeniny
  • narodeninyanniversary
Spanish fecha de nacimiento, cumpleaños
  • fecha de nacimientodate of birth — see also date of birth
  • cumpleañosanniversary
  • natalicioanniversary
Swahili siku ya uzalishi, siku ya kuzaliwa
  • siku ya uzalishianniversary
  • siku ya kuzaliwaanniversary
Swedish födelsedag, födelsedatum
  • födelsedagdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • födelsedatumdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • födelsedaganniversary
  • bemärkelsedaganniversary
Tagalog kaarawan, kaarawan
  • kaarawandate of birth — see also date of birth
  • kaarawananniversary
Tamil பிறந்தநாள்
  • பிறந்தநாள் (piṟantanāḷ)anniversary
Thai วันเกิด
  • วันเกิด (wan-gə̀ət)anniversary
Turkish doğum tarihi, doğum günü
  • doğum tarihidate of birth — see also date of birth
  • doğum günüanniversary
Ukrainian да́та наро́дження, день наро́дження
  • да́та наро́дження (dáta naródžennja)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • день наро́дження (denʹ naródžennja)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • день наро́дження (denʹ naródžennja)anniversary
  • уроди́ни (urodýny)anniversary
Urdu تارِیخِ پِیدائِش, جَنْم دِن
  • تارِیخِ پِیدائِش (tārīx-i pīdāiś)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • جَنْم دِن (janm din)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • یَومِ پِیدائِش (yaum-i pīdāiś)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • یَومِ وِلادَت (yaum-i vilādat)date of birth — see also date of birth
  • سالْگِرَہْ (sālgirah)anniversary
  • جَنْم دِن (janm din)anniversary
Vietnamese ngày sinh, ngày sinh tháng đẻ
  • ngày sinhdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • ngày sinh tháng đẻdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • ngày sanhdate of birth — see also date of birth
  • sinh nhậtanniversary
Welsh penblwydd, pen-blwydd
  • penblwyddanniversary
  • pen-blwyddanniversary
Yiddish געבוירן־טאָג, געבורטסטאָג
  • געבוירן־טאָג (geboyrn-tog)anniversary
  • געבורטסטאָג (geburtstog)anniversary
Zulu usuku lokuzalwa
  • usuku lokuzalwaanniversary

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

tharybid
Cite this entry
APA

birthday. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/birthday

MLA

“birthday.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/birthday. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “birthday,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/birthday.

Source: birthday on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.