Meanings
adverbonce upon a time (not comparable)
- not comparablefolk-poeticA long time ago; at some time in the past (a traditional beginning of children's stories, especially fairy tales).
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there lived a beautiful princess.
2 more examples
There was once upon a time a charcoal-burner who had a son, and he was also a charcoal-burner.
1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 308Once upon a time, there was a Goblin Queen And she lived in a grand palace...
2023, A. C. MacDonald, Twistwood Tales (comic), Andrews McMeel, →ISBN, page 138 - not comparableFormerly.
Long before popular music evolved its many genres and subgenres, the industry was driven by a simple one-size-fits-all philosophy […] Songwriters, once upon a time, wrote songs for the masses.
2012, Christoper Zara, chapter 2, in Tortured Artists: From Picasso and Monroe to Warhol and Winehouse, the Twisted Secrets of the World's Most Creative Minds, page 51
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbA long time ago; at some time in the past (a traditional beginning of children's stories, especially fairy tales).
Also see
Translations
Ancient Greek ἦν γάρ ποτε χρόνος, οὕτω ποτ’ ἦν μῦς καὶ γαλῆ
- ἦν γάρ ποτε χρόνος (ên gár pote khrónos)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- οὕτω ποτ’ ἦν μῦς καὶ γαλῆ (hoútō pot’ ên mûs kaì galê)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Arabic كَان يَامَا كَان
- كَان يَامَا كَان (kān yāmā kān)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Basque bazen behin, behin batean
- bazen behintraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- behin bateantraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Bengali একদা
- একদা (ekoda)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Bulgarian и́мало едно́ вре́ме
- и́мало едно́ вре́ме (ímalo ednó vréme)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Catalan hi havia una vegada, això era una vegada
- hi havia una vegadatraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- això era una vegadatraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Chinese Mandarin 很久很久以前, 從前 /从前
- 很久很久以前 (hěnjiǔ hěnjiǔ yǐqián)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- 從前 /从前 (cóngqián)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Czech bylo nebylo
- bylo nebylotraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Danish der var engang
- der var engangtraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Dutch er was eens
- er was eenstraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Esperanto iam estis
- iam estistraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Estonian oli kord, elas kord
- oli kordtraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- elas kordtraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- üks kord ennemuistsel ajaltraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- ükskordtraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Finnish olipa kerran, olipa kerran kauan sitten
- olipa kerrantraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- olipa kerran kauan sittentraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
French il était une fois, il y avait une fois
- il était une foistraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- il y avait une foistraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
German es war einmal
- es war einmaltraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Greek μια φορά κι έναν καιρό, μια φορά ήταν δεν ήταν
- μια φορά κι έναν καιρό (mia forá ki énan kairó)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- μια φορά ήταν δεν ήταν (mia forá ítan den ítan)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Hebrew הָיֹה הָיָה
- הָיֹה הָיָה (hayó hayá)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Hindi किसी ज़माने में
- किसी ज़माने में (kisī zamāne mẽ)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Hungarian egyszer volt, hol nem volt, hol volt, hol nem volt
- egyszer volt, hol nem volttraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- hol volt, hol nem volttraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Icelandic einu sinni var, það var einu sinni
- einu sinni vartraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- það var einu sinnitraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Indonesian pada suatu hari, pada zaman dahulu
- pada suatu haritraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- pada zaman dahulutraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Irish feacht n-aon, fadó fadó
- feacht n-aontraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- fadó fadótraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- tráth dá raibhtraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- lá den saoltraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Italian c'era una volta
- c'era una voltatraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Japanese 昔昔, 昔々
- 昔昔 (mukashi-mukashi)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- 昔々 (mukashi-mukashi)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- 今は昔 (ima wa mukashi)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Korean 옛날 옛적에, 옛날 옛적
- 옛날 옛적에 (yennal yetjeog-e)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- 옛날 옛적 (yennal yetjeok)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Latin ōlim
- ōlimtraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Latvian reiz sensenos laikos
- reiz sensenos laikostraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Lithuanian seniai, labai seniai
- seniai, labai seniaitraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Malay pada suatu masa, pada suatu hari
- pada suatu masatraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- pada suatu haritraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Māori tērā tētahi, tērā ētahi
- tērā tētahitraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- tērā ētahitraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Norwegian Bokmål det var en gang
- det var en gangtraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Polish pewnego razu, dawno, dawno temu
- pewnego razutraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- dawno, dawno temutraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- za górami, za lasamitraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Portuguese era uma vez, havia uma vez
- era uma veztraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- havia uma veztraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Romanian a fost odată, a fost odată ca niciodată
- a fost odatătraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- a fost odată ca niciodatătraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Russian жи́ли-бы́ли, давны́м-давно́
- жи́ли-бы́ли (žíli-býli)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- давны́м-давно́ (davným-davnó)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- в тридевя́том ца́рстве, в тридеся́том госуда́рстве (v tridevjátom cárstve, v tridesjátom gosudárstve)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Scottish Gaelic bha siud ann uaireigin
- bha siud ann uaireigintraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Spanish érase una vez, había una vez
- érase una veztraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- había una veztraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- era una veztraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Swahili hapo zamani za kale
- hapo zamani za kaletraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Swedish det var en gång
- det var en gångtraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Tagalog noong unang panahon
- noong unang panahontraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Tamil முன்னொரு காலத்தில், முன்னொரு காலத்துல
- முன்னொரு காலத்தில் (muṉṉoru kālattil)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- முன்னொரு காலத்துல (muṉṉoru kālattula)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Thai กาลครั้งหนึ่ง
- กาลครั้งหนึ่ง (gaa-lá-kráng-nʉ̀ng)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Turkish bir varmış, bir yokmuş, günlerden bir gün
- bir varmış, bir yokmuştraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- günlerden bir güntraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Ukrainian жи́ли-були́, давни́м-давно́
- жи́ли-були́ (žýly-bulý)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
- давни́м-давно́ (davným-davnó)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Urdu کِسی زَمانے میں
- کِسی زَمانے میں (kisī zamāne mẽ)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Vietnamese ngày xửa ngày xưa
- ngày xửa ngày xưatraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Welsh unwaith
- unwaithtraditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Yiddish אַ מאָל
- אַ מאָל (a mol)traditional beginning of children’s stories, especially fairy tales
Cite this entry
APA
once upon a time. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/once%20upon%20a%20time
MLA
“once upon a time.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/once%20upon%20a%20time. Accessed November 5, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “once upon a time,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/once%20upon%20a%20time.
Source: once upon a time on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.