Yesterday - Wiktionary

English

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Etymology

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From Middle English yesterday, yisterday, ȝesterdai, ȝisterdai, from Old English ġiestrandæġ, ġister dæġ, ġestor dæġ, ġeostran dæġ (“yesterday”), by surface analysis, yester- +‎ day. Cognate with Scots yisterday, yesterday (“yesterday”), Saterland Frisian jässendeeg, järsendeges (“yesterday”, adverb), West Frisian justerdei (“yesterday”), Dutch gisterdag (“yesterday”), dialectal German gestertag (“yesterday”), Swedish gårdag (“yesterday”), Gothic 𐌲𐌹𐍃𐍄𐍂𐌰𐌳𐌰𐌲𐌹𐍃 (gistradagis, “tomorrow”, adverb). Compare further Dutch gisteren (“yesterday”), German gestern (“yesterday”).

Pronunciation

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• (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈjɛstədeɪ/, /ˈjɛstədi/

• Audio (Received Pronunciation):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA(key): /ˈjɛstɹdeɪ/, /ˈjɛstɹdi/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• (dated, Southern US folk speech) IPA(key): /ˈjɪstɹdeɪ/, /ˈjɪstɹdi/[1]
• Hyphenation: yes‧ter‧day

Noun

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yesterday (plural yesterdays)

1. 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 …
   • 1965, Paul McCartney, “Yesterday”, in Help!:Yesterday / All my troubles seemed so far away / Now it looks as though they're here to stay / Oh, I believe in yesterday
2. (figuratively) The past, often in terms of being outdated.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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v]: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

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• 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.[2]

Derived terms

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• born yesterday
• day before yesterday
• ereyesterday
• remember like it was yesterday
• yesterday but one
• yesterday is gone
• yesterday night
• yesterday-today-and-tomorrow
• yesterday-today-tomorrow

Translations

[edit] day before today

Afar: kimal Afrikaans: gister (af) Ainu: ヌマン (numan) Albanian: dje (sq) Aleut: yam Amharic: ትናንት (tənant), ትናንትና (tənantəna) Andi: суни (suni) Ao: yashi (Chungli) Arabic: أَمْس (ʔams) Chadian Arabic: أمس (ʔamis) 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 (wčóra) 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: 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 Kaitag: са (sa) Kannada: ನಿನ್ನೆ (kn) (ninne) Kapampangan: napun Kashmiri: راتھ (ks) (rāth) 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 Lingala: lobi 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) (Peninsular West Coast incl. KL), kelmarin (ms), kemarin (Kedah, Pen. East Coast, Sabah, Brunei) Malayalam: ഇന്നലെ (ml) (innale) Maltese: bieraħ, ilbieraħ m Mansaka: kagabi Maori: nanahi Marathi: काल (kāl) Middle English: yesterday Mizo: nimin Mongo: lobi 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) (gatakāli) Ojibwe: bijiinaago Oromo: kaleessa Papiamentu: ayera (á) Pashto: پرون (ps) (pron) Persian: دیروز (fa) (diruz) Piedmontese: ier m Polabian: ceră f 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 Sikkimese: ཁ་སང (kha sang) 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 Venetan: geri Vietnamese: hôm qua (vi) Volapük: ädel (vo) Votic: egle Vurës: nonor Welsh: ddoe West Frisian: juster (fy) Western Bukidnon Manobo: gevi'i Woiwurrung: yollinkoe Wolof: démb (wo), demba Xhosa: izolo Yaghnobi: 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

the recent past

Armenian: երեկ (hy) (erek) Asturian: ayeri (ast) m Catalan: dia d'ahir m Finnish: eilinen (fi), eilispäivä (fi) Galician: onte (gl) Icelandic: gærdagur m (often with a definite article; gærdagurinn) Middle English: yesterday Norwegian: Bokmål: forleden dag Portuguese: ontem (pt) Romanian: ieri (ro) Scottish Gaelic: an latha an-dè Swahili: jana (sw) Swedish: gårdag (sv) c Turkish: dün (tr) Zazaki: vızêr (diq)

Adverb

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yesterday (not comparable)

1. 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.
2. (informal) As soon as possible. I want this done yesterday! I need it yesterday!

Related terms

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• yester
• yesterevening
• yestern
• yesternight
• yesternoon
• yestersol
• yesteryear
• yestreen

Translations

[edit] on the day before today

Afrikaans: gister (af) Albanian: dje (sq) Alviri-Vidari: (Vidari) ایزیره (izzire) Amharic: ትናንትና (tənantəna) Arabic: أَمْسِ (ʔamsi) Chadian Arabic: أمس (ʔamis) 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 (wčóra) 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) Hakka: 昨晡日 (chhô-pû-ngit) Hokkien: 昨昏 (zh-min-nan) (cha-hng) Jin: 夜天 (ie3 tie1) Mandarin: 昨天 (zh) (zuótiān), 昨日 (zh) (zuórì) (literary), 昨兒 / 昨儿 (zh) (zuór), 昨兒個 / 昨儿个 (zh) (zuórge) Northern Min: 隔暝 (gă-mâng), 昨暝 (ciā-mâng) Wu: 昨日 (8zoq-gniq; 6zo-gniq) Xiang: 昨日 (zo2 r6) Chuvash: ӗнер (ĕner) Cornish: de 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) Ingrian: egle 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) Lutuv: avuochaning Lithuanian: vakar (lt) Livonian: eggiļ Luxembourgish: gëschter (lb) Macanese: onte Macedonian: вче́ра (včéra) Malay: semalam (ms) (Peninsular West Coast incl. KL), kelmarin (ms) (Kedah, Pen. East Coast, Sabah, Brunei) 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 (no) Nynorsk: i går Occitan: ièr (oc) Odia: ଗତକାଲି (or) (gatakāli) Ojibwe: bijiinaago Old Church Slavonic: Cyrillic: вьчера (vĭčera) Old East Slavic: вьчера (vĭčera) Old English: geostran Ossetian: знон (znon) Pannonian Rusyn: вчера (včera) Papiamentu: ayera Pashto: پرون (ps) (parún) Persian: Dari: دِیروز (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) Venetan: geri Volapük: ädelo (vo) Welsh: ddoe West Frisian: juster (fy) Yiddish: נעכטן (nekhtn) Zhuang: ngoenzlwenz, ngoenzvaz Zulu: izolo

as soon as possible

Polish: na wczoraj (pl)

See also

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• ereyesterday
• hesternal
• last night
• nudiustertian
• today
• tomorrow night
• tonight

References

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1. ^ Kurath, Hans; McDavid, Raven I., Jr. (1961), The pronunciation of English in the Atlantic States: based upon the collections of the linguistic atlas of the Eastern United States‎[1], Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, § 5.2, pages 134-135.
2. ^ Thomas Sheridan (1790), A Complete Dictionary of the English Language, Both with Regard to Sound and Meaning‎[2], volume 2, C. Dilly

Middle English

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Alternative forms

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• ȝusterday, ȝurstendæi, ȝisterday, yisterday, ȝesterdai, yusterday, ȝerstendæi, yurstai

Etymology

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From Old English ġiestrandæġ; equivalent to yester- +‎ day.

Pronunciation

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• IPA(key): /ˈjɛstərdæi/, /ˈjistərdæi/, /ˈjustərdæi/

Adverb

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yesterday

1. On the preceding day
2. At another preceding point in time; in the past

Noun

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yesterday

1. The preceding day; yesterday
2. A preceding point in time; the past

Descendants

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• English: yesterday
• Middle Scots: ȝisterday, ȝesterday
  • Scots: yesterday
• Yola: yersthei, yerstei, yerstey

References

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• “yester-dai, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 20 March 2018.