day
/deɪ̯/noun, verb
day is spelled D-A-Y: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 891 times per million words in written English, the 122nd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, day means “The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of day is days.
How many letters and syllables are in day?
| Letters | 3: D-A-Y |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 |
| In writing | 891 times per million words; the 122nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is day?
Day appears 891 times per million words in written English, the 122nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce day?
- US /deɪ̯/
- /dæɪ̯/
- [dɛɪ̯]
Day has one syllable.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-a_day.ogg, LL-Q1860_(eng)-Back_ache-Day.wav, En-us-day.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with day
Also written: daye.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with day?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as day from its last stressed vowel (/eɪ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: yad.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of day
- days plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- daying participle, present
- dayed participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does day mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The time when the Sun is above the horizon and it lights the sky.
day and night; I work at night and sleep during the day.
- 2
A period of time equal or almost equal to a full day-night cycle, being 24 hours long.
Holonyms: week < megasecond < fortnight < month < year < gigasecond < century < kiloannum, kiloyear, millennium < terasecond < mega-annum, megayear < petasecond < giga-annum, gigayear < exasecond < zettasecond < yottasecond < ronnasecond <
- 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
informalA 24-hour period beginning at 6am or sunrise.
Your 8am forecast: The high for the day will be 30 and the low, before dawn, will be 10.
- 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.
The day begins at midnight.
- 7
The rotational period of a planet.
A day on Mars is slightly over 24 hours.
- 8
The part of a day period which one spends at one’s job, school, etc.
I worked two days last week.
verb
- 1
rareTo spend a day (in a place).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate day?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of day: dd.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Day in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does day come from?
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”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).