To-day or today?
to-day is an adverb meaning “Dated spelling of today”; today is an adverb meaning “On the current day or date”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. to-day is written with a hyphen and today as one word; they are used differently.
What is the difference between to-day and today?
| to-day | today | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adverb, noun | adverb, noun, adjective |
| Meaning | Dated spelling of today | On the current day or date In the current era; nowadays; these days The current day or date |
| Example | none recorded | I want this done today |
| Pronunciation | not recorded | /tʊˈdeɪ/ /təˈdeɪ/ |
| In writing | not counted (the list counts single words) | 355 times per million words |
Sources: to-day and today in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of to-day and today
to-day
- 1
Dated spelling of today
- 2
Dated spelling of today
today
- 1
On the current day or date
I want this done today
- 2
The current day or date
Today is the day we'll fix this once and for all
- 3
informalCurrent; up to date
- 4
In the current era; nowadays; these days
In the 1500s, people had to do things by hand, but today we have electric can openers
- 5
informalThe 24-hour period beginning at 5 or 6 a.m. or sunrise of the current day
- 6
informalOn the day of a recurring cycle or event which is currently happening
We used to prepare everything today, but now we split it over two days
- 7
The present era; nowadays
This is the sporty jacket for today's modern man on the go
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, to-day or today?
to-day is a phrase, which the list of single words does not count; today 355 times per million words.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search to-day vs today?
“to-day vs today” is searched about 90 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“today vs to-day”, “to-day or today”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.