yesterday

English

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old English geostran dæg, equivalent to yester- +‎ day; compounded from

• Old English geostran (“yesterday”), from Proto-Germanic *gestra-, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰyes-;
• Old English dæg, from Proto-Germanic *dagaz, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʰ- (“to burn”)

Pronunciation

• (RP) IPA: /ˈjɛstədeɪ/
• (US) IPA: /ˈjɛstɚdeɪ/

• Audio (US)

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• Audio (UK)

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• Rhymes: -eɪ

Noun

yesterday (plural yesterdays)

1. The day before today. 'Today is the child of yesterday and the parent of tomorrow'. It can also understand as a day ago.

   Yesterday was rainy, but by this morning it had begun to snow.

2. The (recent) past, often disparaging.

   Yesterday's technology.

   All our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. [Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act 5, Scene 5]

Usage notes

• The term yesterdays is unusual and often poetic for the recent past, e.g. "all our yesterdays have come back to haunt us."

Derived terms

• born yesterday

Translations

day before today

Afrikaans: gister (af) Arabic: أمس (ar) ('ams(i)) Egyptian Arabic: امبارح (imbaaraH) Armenian: երեկ (hy) (erek) Old Armenian: երէկ (erēk) Aromanian: asearã Basque: atzo (eu) Belarusian: учора (be) (učóra) Bengali: গতকাল (bn) (gôtôkāl) Bulgarian: вчера (bg) (včera) Catalan: ahir Chinese: Mandarin: 昨天 (cmn) (zuótiān) Czech: včerejšek (cs) m. Dutch: gisteren (nl) Esperanto: hieraŭ (eo) Faroese: í gjár (fo) Fijian: nanoa (fj) Finnish: eilinen (fi), eilispäivä (fi) French: hier (fr) German: gestern (de) Greek: χθες (el) (chthes) Greenlandic: ippassaq (kl) Hebrew: אתמול (he) (etmól) Hindi: कल (hi) (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context) Hungarian: tegnap (hu) Icelandic: gærdagur (is) (often with a definite article; gærdagurinn (is)) The adverb í gær is much more frequently used than the noun equivalent. Indonesian: kemarin (id) Interlingua: heri (ia) Inuktitut: ᐃᑉᐸᒃᓴᖅ Irish: inné (ga) Italian: ieri (it) m. Japanese: 昨日 (ja) (きのう, kinō), 昨日 (ja) (さくじつ, sakujitsu) Khmer: ម្សិលមិញ (km) (msəl mɨñ), ថ្ងៃម្សិល (km) (tngay msəl) Korean: 어제 (ko) (eoje) Lakota: htalehã Latin: heri (la), hesternus (la) Lower Sorbian: cora Luganda: jjo Luxembourgish: gëschter (lb) Macedonian: вчера (včera) Malayalam: ഇന്നലെ (innale) Maori: nanahi (mi) Mongolian: өчигдөр (mn) (öčigdör) Nauruan: ngago nane (na), [[nanahi#Template:ma|{{Template:ma/script|lang=ma|nanahi}}]] Navajo: adą́ą́dą́ą́ʼ

Norwegian: i går (no) Ojibwe: bijiinaago Papiamentu: ayera (á) Persian: دیروز (fa) (diruz) Polish: wczoraj (pl) n. Portuguese: ontem (pt) Quechua: qayna (qu) Romanian: ieri (ro) Romansch: ier (rm) Russian: вчера (ru) (včerá) Samoan: ananafi (sm) Scots: dé, yestreen Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ју̀че̄р (sh), ју̀че (sh) Roman: jùčēr (sh), jùčē (sh) Shona: nezuro (sn) Sindhi: ڪلهه (kalha) f. Sinhalese: ඊයේ (si) (īyē) Slovak: včera (sk) Slovene: včeraj (sl) Sotho: maobane (st) Spanish: ayer (es) Swahili: jana (sw) Swedish: gårdag (sv), i går (sv) Tagalog: kahpon (tl) Tajik: дирӯз (tg) (dirūz) Tarantino: ajère Telugu: నిన్న (ninna) Thai: เมื่อวานนี้ (th) (mêua waan née), วาน (th) (waan), วานนี้ (th) (waan née) Tok Pisin: asde Tswana: maabane (tn) Turkish: dün (tr) Ukrainian: учора (uk) (učóra) / вчора (uk) (včóra) Upper Sorbian: wčera Urdu: کل (ur) (kal) (may refer to tomorrow, depending on the context) Uyghur: تۈنۈگۈن (ug) Venda: mulovha, mba-mulovha Vietnamese: hôm qua (vi) Volapük: ädel (vo) Welsh: doe (cy) West Frisian: juster (fy) Wolof: démb (wo), demba (wo) Xhosa: izolo (xh) Yao: liiso Zulu: izolo (zu) the recent past Armenian: երեկ (hy) (erek) Finnish: eilinen (fi), eilispäivä (fi) Icelandic: gærdagur (is) m. (often with a definite article; gærdagurinn (is)) Portuguese: ontem (pt) Swahili: jana (sw) Swedish: gårdag (sv) c. Turkish: dün (tr) Adverb yesterday On the day before today I started to watch the video yesterday, but could only finish it this evening. Synonyms the last day (Ireland) Antonyms tomorrow Related terms yester yesterevening yestern yesternight yesternoon yesteryear yestreen Translations on the day before today Afrikaans: gister Albanian: dje Amuzgo: bja Arabic: أمس (ar) ('ams(i)), إمبارح (ar) ('imbaariH) Egyptian Arabic: امبارح (imbaaraH) Armenian: երեկ (hy) (erek) Old Armenian: երէկ (erēk) Basque: atzo Breton: dec'h Bulgarian: вчера (bg) (včera) Catalan: ahir Chamicuro: likajpe'ta Chickasaw: oblashush Chinese: Mandarin: 昨天 (cmn) (zuótiān) Cornish: dé Czech: včera (cs) Danish: i går (da) Dutch: gisteren (nl) Esperanto: hieraŭ (eo) Faroese: í gjár (fo) Finnish: eilen (fi), eilispäivänä (fi) French: hier (fr) German: gestern (de) Greek: χθές (el) (khthés) Greenlandic: ippassaq Haitian Creole: yè Hebrew: אתמול (etmól) Hungarian: tegnap (hu) Icelandic: í gær (is) Ido: hiere (io) Indonesian: kemarin (id) Interlingua: heri Irish: inné (ga) Italian: ieri (it) m. Japanese: 昨日 (ja), きのう (ja) (kinō), さくじつ (ja) (sakújitsu) (formal) Kazakh: keşe (kk) Khmer: ពីម្សិលមិញ (km) (pii msəl mɨñ) Korean: 어제 (eoje) Lakota: htalehã Latin: heri (la), here (la) Latvian: vakar (lv) Lithuanian: adverb: vakar; noun: vakardiena f., vakarykštė diena f. Luxembourgish: gëschter Manx: jea Nangikurrunggurr: kultyinimbi (Ngan'gityemerri) Navajo: adą́ą́dą́ą́ʼ Neapolitan: craje Norwegian: igår (no) Occitan: gèr Ojibwe: bijiinaago Old English: geostran Papiamentu: ayera Persian: دیروز (fa) (diruz) Polish: wczoraj (pl) Portuguese: ontem (pt) Romanian: ieri (ro) Romansch: ier (rm) Russian: вчера (ru) (včerá) Sanskrit: ह्यस् (sa) (hyas) Scottish Gaelic: an-dè (gd) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: ју̀че̄р (sh), ју̀че (sh) Roman: jùčēr (sh), jùčē (sh) Sindhi: ڪلهه (kalha) f. Slovak: včera (sk) Slovene: včeraj (sl) Spanish: ayer (es) m. Swahili: jana (sw) Swedish: i går (sv), igår (sv) Tajik: дирӯз (tg) (dirūz) Tarantino: ajère Tatar: kiçä Telugu: నిన్న (ninna) Thai: เมื่อวานนี้ (meùùa waan nēē) Tok Pisin: asde Turkish: dün (tr) Ukrainian: учора / вчора (učóra / včóra) Uyghur: تۈنۈگۈن (ug) Volapük: ädelo (vo) Welsh: ddoe (cy) West Frisian: juster See also today tomorrow night tonight last night nudiustertian