birthday

A1 Topic:Time

US /ˈbɝθˌdeɪ/ UK /ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/ See IPA manual

Freq #761

Meanings

1

noun
The day each year that is the anniversary of the day you were born.

When's your birthday? Mine is on April 1.
2

noun
A party held to celebrate someone's birthday.

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

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 noun · the day each year that is... natal day

Word family

Forms birthdays

Derived forms birthaversarybirthday-suitbirthday-suitedbirthdayishbirthdaylesshalf-birthdayrebirthdayunbirthday

Appears in

Phrases (8)

See all

birthday card
A greetings card sent to mark someone's birthday

Adjective + noun
birthday party
a celebration held for someone's birthday

Adjective + noun
happy birthday
a conventional greeting used to wish someone well on their birthday

Adjective + noun
forget a birthday
to fail to remember or acknowledge someone's birthday

Verb + noun
celebrate a birthday
to mark the occasion of a birthday with festivities

Verb + noun
remember a birthday
to keep track of and acknowledge someone's birthday

Verb + noun

Etymology

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.

birthdai Middle English ġebyrddæġ Old English

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Time

External links

# birthday

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A1
**Part of speech:** noun
**IPA (US):** /ˈbɝθˌdeɪ/
**IPA (UK):** /ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/
**Frequency rank:** 761

## Meanings
1. The day each year that is the anniversary of the day you were born.
2. A party held to celebrate someone's birthday.

## Examples
- When's your birthday? Mine is on April 1.
- I'd like to invite you all to my birthday.

## Derived Forms
- birthaversary
- birthday-suit
- birthday-suited
- birthdayish
- birthdayless
- half-birthday
- rebirthday
- unbirthday

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: birthdai
- Root: ġebyrddæġ

## Etymology
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.

## AI Etymology
Birthday comes 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.

## Topics
- Time

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