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yesterday. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
yesterday, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
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English
Etymology
From Middle English yesterday, yisterday, ȝesterdai, ȝisterdai, from Old English ġiestrandæġ, ġister dæġ, ġestor dæġ, ġeostran dæġ, equivalent to yester- + day; see there for more. Compare Scots yisterday, yesterday (“yesterday”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (gistradagis, “tomorrow”, adverb). Compare further Dutch gisteren, German gestern.
Pronunciation
Noun
yesterday (plural yesterdays)
- 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.
1899, Hughes Mearns, Antigonish:Yesterday, upon the stair / I met a man who wasn’t there / He wasn’t there again today / I wish, I wish he’d go away …
- (figuratively) The past, often in terms of being outdated.
yesterday's technology
The worker of today is different from that of yesterday.
c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :All our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.
2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins. For each one there is a frighteningly precise measurement of just how likely it is to jump from the shadows and get you.
Usage notes
- The plural yesterdays is unusual and often poetic for the recent past, e.g. “all our yesterdays have come back to haunt us”.
- While pronunciations with /ˈjɪ-/ are now dialectal, they were formerly found in the standard language. For example, writer and orthoepist Thomas Sheridan prescribed such a pronunciation in his work.
Derived terms
Translations
day before today
- Afar: kimal
- Afrikaans: gister
- Ainu: ヌマン (numan)
- Albanian: dje (sq)
- Aleut: yam
- Amharic: ትናንት (tənant), ትናንትና (tənantəna)
- Andi: суни (suni)
- Arabic: أَمْس (ʔams)
- Cypriot Arabic: imps
- Egyptian Arabic: امبارح (imbāriḥ)
- Hijazi Arabic: أمس (ʔams)
- Moroccan Arabic: البارح (el-bāriḥ)
- South Levantine Arabic: مبارح (mbāreḥ, mbēreḥ)
- Aragonese: ahier
- Armenian: երեկ (hy) (erek)
- Old Armenian: երէկ (erēk)
- Aromanian: aeri, aieri, ieri, eri, asearã
- Assamese: কালি (kali) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context), যোৱাকালি (züakali)
- Asturian: ayeri (ast) m
- Avar: сон (son)
- Azerbaijani: dünən (az), dün (az)
- Baluchi: زی (zí)
- Bashkir: кисә (kisə), кисәге (kisəge)
- Basque: atzo (eu)
- Belarusian: учо́ра (učóra), ўчо́ра (ŭčóra)
- Bengali: গতকাল (bn) (gotokal)
- Bikol Central: kasu-udma, kasuhapon
- Bislama: yestedei
- Bulgarian: вче́ра (bg) (včéra)
- Burmese: မနေ့က (ma.ne.ka.)
- Catalan: ahir (ca)
- Cebuano: gahapon
- Chechen: селхана (selxana)
- Chickasaw: oblaashaash
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 昨天 (zok6 tin1), 琴日 (yue) (kam4 jat6), 尋日/寻日 (yue) (cam4 jat6), 昨日 (yue) (zok3 jat6)
- Eastern Min: 昨暝 (sŏ̤h-màng)
- Hakka: 昨晡日 (chô-pû-ngit)
- Hokkien: 昨昏 (zh-min-nan) (cha-hng, cha̍h-hng, chah-hng, chăng), 昨日 (zh-min-nan) (cha-ji̍t, cha-li̍t, cha̍h-ji̍t, cha̍h-li̍t, cho̍h-ji̍t, cho̍h-li̍t), 昨暗 (zh-min-nan) (cha-àm)
- Mandarin: 昨天 (zh) (zuótiān), 昨日 (zh) (zuórì)
- Wu: 昨日 (zoq nyiq, zo nyiq)
- Chuvash: ӗнер (ĕner)
- Crimean Tatar: dün, tünevin
- Czech: včerejšek (cs) m
- Dalmatian: jere
- Danish: i går (da)
- Dutch: gisteren (nl)
- Egyptian: (sf)
- Esperanto: hieraŭ (eo)
- Estonian: eile (et), eilnepäev
- Faroese: í gjár, gjárdagur m
- Fijian: nanoa (fj)
- Finnish: eilinen (fi), eilispäivä (fi)
- French: hier (fr)
- Friulian: îr
- Galician: onte (gl)
- Georgian: გუშინ (gušin)
- German: gestriger Tag, gestern (de)
- Greek: χθες (el) (chthes)
- Ancient: χθές (khthés)
- Greenlandic: ippassaq
- Gujarati: ગઈ કાલ f (gaī kāl)
- Hebrew: אֶתְמוֹל (he) ('etmól), (formally or poetic) אֶמֶשׁ (he) ('émesh)
- Higaonon: gabi-a
- Hindi: कल (hi) (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context), कलि (hi) (kali)
- Hungarian: tegnap (hu)
- Hunsrik: gester
- Icelandic: gærdagur (often with a definite article; gærdagurinn; the adverb í gær is much more frequently used than the noun equivalent)
- Indonesian: kemarin (id)
- Ingrian: egliin päivä, eglelliin päivä
- Ingush: селхан (selxan)
- Interlingua: heri (ia)
- Inuktitut: ᐃᑉᐸᒃᓴᖅ (ippaksaq)
- Irish: inné (ga)
- Istriot: ièri
- Italian: ieri (it) m
- Japanese: 昨日 (ja) (きのう, kinō), 昨日 (ja) (さくじつ, sakujitsu)
- Kaingang: rãké tá
- Kannada: ನಿನ್ನೆ (kn) (ninne)
- Kapampangan: napun
- Kazakh: кеше (keşe)
- Khmer: ម្សិលមិញ (msəl mɨñ), ថ្ងៃម្សិល (tngay msəl), ម្សិល (km) (msəl)
- Konkani: कालि (kāli)
- Korean: 어제 (ko) (eoje), 작일 (ko) (jagil)
- Kurdish:
- Northern Kurdish: duhî (ku)
- Kyrgyz: кечээ (ky) (kecee)
- Ladin: inier m
- Lakota: htalehã
- Lao: ມື້ວານ (lo) (mư̄ wān)
- Latin: heri (la), hesternus
- Latvian: vakar (lv), vakardiena f
- Laz: ღომა (ğoma)
- Ligurian: vêi m
- Lithuanian: vakar (lt), vakardiena f, vakarykštė diena f
- Livonian: eggiļ
- Lombard: jer (lmo) m
- Luganda: jjo
- Luxembourgish: gëschter (lb)
- Macanese: onte
- Macedonian: вче́ра (včéra)
- Malay: semalam (ms), kelmarin (ms)
- Malayalam: ഇന്നലെ (ml) (innale)
- Maltese: bieraħ, ilbieraħ m
- Mansaka: kagabi
- Maori: nanahi
- Marathi: काल (kāl)
- Middle English: yesterday
- Mongolian: өчигдөр (mn) (öčigdör)
- Nauruan: ngago nane, nanahi
- Navajo: adą́ą́dą́ą́ʼ
- Ndzwani Comorian: vojana
- Ngazidja Comorian: djana
- Norman: hièr (Jersey)
- Northern Sami: ievttá
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: gårsdag (no) m
- Nynorsk: gårdag m, gårsdag m
- Occitan: ièr (oc)
- Odia: ଗତକାଲି (or) (gôtôkali)
- Ojibwe: bijiinaago
- Oromo: kaleessa
- Papiamentu: ayera (á)
- Pashto: پرون (ps) (pron)
- Persian: دیروز (fa) (diruz)
- Piedmontese: ier m
- Polish: wczoraj (pl) n
- Portuguese: ontem (pt)
- Quechua: qayna
- Romanian: ieri (ro)
- Romansch: ier, her
- Russian: вчера́ (ru) (včerá)
- Saho: kumal
- Samoan: ananafi
- Sanskrit: ह्यस् (sa) (hyás)
- Sardinian: aiseru, deris
- Scots: yestreen
- Scottish Gaelic: an-dè
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ју̀че̄р, ју̀че
- Roman: jùčēr (sh), jùčē (sh)
- Shona: nezuro
- Sicilian: aieri (scn)
- Sidamo: bero
- Sindhi: ڪلهه (sd) f (kalha)
- Sinhalese: ඊයේ (si) (īyē)
- Skolt Sami: jåhtta
- Slovak: včera (sk)
- Slovene: včéraj (sl)
- Somali: shalay
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: cora
- Upper Sorbian: wčera
- Sotho: maobane (st)
- Southern Sami: jååktan
- Spanish: ayer (es)
- Svan: ლა̄თ (lāt)
- Swahili: jana (sw)
- Swedish: gårdag (sv), i går (sv)
- Sylheti: ꠇꠣꠁꠟ (xail) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context)
- Tagalog: kahapon
- Tajik: дирӯз (tg) (dirüz)
- Tamil: நேற்று (ta) (nēṟṟu)
- Tarantino: ajère
- Tatar: кичә (tt) (kiçä)
- Telugu: నిన్న (te) (ninna)
- Thai: เมื่อวานนี้ (mʉ̂ʉa-waan-níi)
- Tibetan: ཁ་སང (kha sang)
- Tok Pisin: asde (tpi)
- Tswana: maabane
- Turkish: dün (tr)
- Turkmen: düýn
- Ukrainian: учо́ра (učóra), вчо́ра (uk) (včóra)
- Urdu: کل (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context)
- Uyghur: تۈنۈگۈن (tünügün)
- Uzbek: kecha (uz), kechagi (uz)
- Venda: mulovha, mba-mulovha
- Venetian: geri
- Vietnamese: hôm qua (vi)
- Volapük: ädel (vo)
- Votic: egle
- Vurës: nonor
- Welsh: ddoe
- West Frisian: juster (fy)
- Western Bukidnon Manobo: gevi'i
- Wolof: démb (wo), demba
- Xhosa: izolo
- Yagnobi: пиён (piyon)
- Yakut: бэҕэһээ (beğehee)
- Yao: liiso
- Yiddish: נעכטן (nekhtn)
- Yup'ik: unuamek, akwaugaq
- Zazaki: vızêr (diq)
- Zhuang: ngoenzlwenz, ngoenzvaz, ŋɵnƨlɯenƨ
- Zulu: izolo class 5
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Adverb
yesterday (not comparable)
- On the day before today.
- Synonym: (Ireland) the last day
- Antonym: tomorrow
I started to watch the video yesterday, but could only finish it this evening.
- (informal) As soon as possible.
I want this done yesterday!
Related terms
Translations
on the day before today
- Afrikaans: gister
- Albanian: dje (sq)
- Alviri-Vidari: (Vidari) ایزیره (izzire)
- Amharic: ትናንትና (tənantəna)
- Arabic: أَمْس (ʔams), أَمْسِ (ʔamsi)
- Egyptian Arabic: امبارح (imbāraḥ)
- Moroccan Arabic: البارح (el-bāriḥ)
- Armenian: երեկ (hy) (erek)
- Old Armenian: երէկ (erēk)
- Asturian: ayeri (ast)
- Avar: сон (son)
- Azerbaijani: dünən (az), dün (az), ötən gün (formal)
- Bashkir: кисә (kisə)
- Basque: atzo (eu)
- Belarusian: учо́ра (učóra), ўчо́ра (ŭčóra)
- Breton: dec'h (br)
- Bulgarian: вче́ра (bg) (včéra)
- Burmese: မနေ့က (ma.ne.ka.)
- Buryat: үсэгэлдэр (üsegelder)
- Carpathian Rusyn: вче́ра (včéra), уче́ра (učéra), вчо́ра (včóra), учо́ра (učóra)
- Catalan: ahir (ca)
- Cebuano: gahapon
- Chamicuro: likajpe'ta
- Chechen: селхана (selxana)
- Chichewa: dzulo
- Chickasaw: oblaashaash
- Chinese:
- Cantonese: 尋日/寻日 (yue) (cam4 jat6), 琴日 (yue) (kam4 jat6), 昨天 (zok3 tin1)
- Dungan: зуәр (zuər), зуәргә (zuərgə), ели (i͡əli), елигә (i͡əligə)
- Eastern Min: 昨暝 (sŏ̤h-màng)
- Gan: 昨日 ('coh7 nyit6)
- Mandarin: 昨天 (zh) (zuótiān), 昨日 (zh) (zuórì) (literary), 昨兒/昨儿 (zh) (zuór), 昨兒個/昨儿个 (zh) (zuórge)
- Wu: 昨日 (8zoq-gniq; 6zo-gniq)
- Xiang: 昨日 (zo2 r6)
- Chuvash: ӗнер (ĕner)
- Cornish: dé
- Crimean Tatar: dün, tünevin
- Czech: včera (cs)
- Dalmatian: jere
- Danish: i går (da)
- Dutch: gisteren (nl)
- Egyptian: (sf)
- Esperanto: hieraŭ (eo)
- Estonian: eile (et)
- Extremaduran: ayel
- Faroese: í gjár
- Finnish: eilen (fi), eilispäivänä (fi)
- French: hier (fr)
- Friulian: îr
- Georgian: გუშინ (gušin)
- German: gestern (de)
- Greek: χθες (el) (chthes)
- Ancient: χθές (khthés)
- Greenlandic: ippassaq
- Guerrero Amuzgo: bja
- Gujarati: ગઇકાલે (gaikāle)
- Gurani: ھیزی (hîzî)
- Haitian Creole: yè
- Hebrew: אֶתְמוֹל (he) ('etmól)
- Hindi: कल (hi) (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context), काल (hi) (kāl)
- Hungarian: tegnap (hu)
- Icelandic: í gær (is)
- Ido: hiere (io)
- Indonesian: kemarin (id)
- Interlingua: heri (ia)
- Irish: inné (ga)
- Istriot: ièri
- Italian: ieri (it) m
- Japanese: 昨日 (ja) (きのう, kinō; さくじつ, sakujitsu)
- Kannada: ನಿನ್ನೆ (kn) (ninne)
- Kazakh: кеше (keşe)
- Khmer: ម្សិល (km) (msəl), ពីម្សិលមិញ (pii msəl mɨñ), ថ្ងៃម្សិលមិញ (thngay msəl mɨñ)
- Komi-Permyak: тӧн (tön)
- Korean: 어제 (ko) (eoje), 작일(昨日) (ko) (jagil)
- Kyrgyz: кечээ (ky) (kecee)
- Lakota: (please verify) htalehã
- Lao: ມື້ວານ (lo) (mư̄ wān)
- Latin: heri (la), here (la)
- Latvian: vakar (lv)
- Lithuanian: vakar (lt)
- Livonian: eggiļ
- Luxembourgish: gëschter (lb)
- Macanese: onte
- Macedonian: вче́ра (včéra)
- Malay: semalam (ms)
- Malayalam: ഇന്നലെ (ml) (innale)
- Maltese: lbieraħ
- Manx: jea
- Marathi: काल (kāl)
- Middle English: yesterday
- Mòcheno: gester
- Mongolian:
- Cyrillic: өчигдөр (mn) (öčigdör)
- Mongolian: ᠥᠴᠦᠭᠡᠳᠦᠷ (öčügedür)
- Nanai: чисэниэ (čisenie)
- Navajo: adą́ą́dą́ą́ʼ
- Neapolitan: ajere
- Ngan'gityemerri: kultyinimbi
- Ngazidja Comorian: djana
- Norman: hiaer (Guernsey), hièr (Jersey)
- Northern Mansi: (please verify) молхо̄тал (molhōtal)
- Northern Sami: ikte
- Norwegian:
- Bokmål: i går
- Nynorsk: i går
- Occitan: ièr (oc)
- Odia: ଗତକାଲି (or) (gôtôkali)
- Ojibwe: bijiinaago
- Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: вьчера (vĭčera)
- Old East Slavic: вьчера (vĭčera)
- Old English: geostran
- Ossetian: знон (znon)
- Papiamentu: ayera
- Pashto: پرون (ps) (parún)
- Persian:
- Dari: دِیروز (fa) (dīrōz)
- Iranian Persian: دیروز (fa) (diruz)
- Pipil: yalua
- Polish: wczoraj (pl)
- Portuguese: ontem (pt)
- Punjabi: ਕੱਲ੍ਹ (kallh)
- Romanian: ieri (ro)
- Romansch: ier
- Russian: вчера́ (ru) (včerá)
- Rwanda-Rundi: ejo
- Sanskrit: ह्यस् (sa) (hyás)
- Scottish Gaelic: an-dè
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: ју̀че̄р, ју̀че
- Roman: jùčēr (sh), jùčē (sh)
- Sicilian: aieri (scn)
- Sindhi: ڪلهه (sd) f (kalha)
- Sinhalese: ඊයේ (si) (īyē)
- Slovak: včera (sk)
- Slovene: včeraj (sl)
- Sorbian:
- Lower Sorbian: cora
- Upper Sorbian: wčera
- Spanish: ayer (es) m
- Swahili: jana (sw)
- Swedish: i går (sv), igår (sv)
- Tagalog: kahapon
- Tajik: дирӯз (tg) (dirüz)
- Talysh: (Asalemi) ایزر (izər)
- Tamil: நேற்று (ta) (nēṟṟu)
- Tarantino: ajère
- Tatar: кичә (tt) (kiçä)
- Telugu: నిన్న (te) (ninna)
- Thai: เมื่อวานนี้ (mʉ̂ʉa-waan-níi)
- Tibetan: ཁེ་སང (khe sang), ཁ་སང (kha sang)
- Tigrinya: ትማሊ (ti) (təmali)
- Tok Pisin: asde (tpi)
- Turkish: dün (tr)
- Turkmen: düýn
- Ukrainian: учо́ра (učóra), вчо́ра (uk) (včóra)
- Urdu: کَل (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context), دِیروز (dīroz)
- Uyghur: تۈنۈگۈن (tünügün)
- Uzbek: kecha (uz), kechagi (uz)
- Venetian: geri
- Volapük: ädelo (vo)
- Welsh: ddoe
- West Frisian: juster (fy)
- Yiddish: נעכטן (nekhtn)
- Zhuang: ngoenzlwenz, ngoenzvaz
- Zulu: izolo
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See also
References
- ^ Hans Kurath and Raven Ioor McDavid (1961). The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States: based upon the collections of the linguistic atlas of the Eastern United States. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, pp. 134–135.
- ^ Thomas Sheridan (1790) A Complete Dictionary of the English Language, Both with Regard to Sound and Meaning, volume 2, C. Dilly
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English ġiestrandæġ; equivalent to yester- + day.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈjɛstərdæi/, /ˈjistərdæi/, /ˈjustərdæi/
Adverb
yesterday
- On the preceding day
- At another preceding point in time; in the past
Noun
yesterday
- The preceding day; yesterday
- A preceding point in time; the past
Descendants
References