birthday

English

Etymology

From Middle English birthdai, birtheday, from Old English ġebyrddæġ (“birthday”), equivalent to birth +‎ day. Compare Saterland Frisian Gebuursdai (“birthday”), Dutch geboortedag (“birthday”), German Geburtstag (“birthday”).

Pronunciation

• (UK): IPA^(key): /ˈbɜːθ.deɪ/
• (Received Pronunciation): IPA^(key): /ˈbɜːθ.dɪ/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• (US): enPR: bûrthʹdā', IPA^(key): /ˈbɝθˌdeɪ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

birthday (plural birthdays)

1. The anniversary of the day on which someone is born. [From 1570s]
   • 1867, Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist, Chapter 2: Treats Of Oliver Twist's Growth, Education, And Board,

     Oliver Twist's ninth birthday found him a pale thin child, somewhat diminutive in stature, and decidedly small in circumference.

   • 1903, L. Frank Baum, The Surprising Adventures of the Magical Monarch of Mo and His People, The Fifth Surprise: The Monarch Celebrates His Birthday,

     One of the Wise Men said the King was born in February; another declared it was in May, and a third figured the great event happened in October. So the King issued a royal decree that he should have three birthdays every year, in order to be on the safe side; and whenever he happened to think of it he put in an odd birthday or two for luck.

   • 1906, Edith Nesbit, The Railway Children, Chapter 9: The pride of Perks,

     "And we thought we'd make a nice birthday for him. He's been so awfully jolly decent to us, you know, Mother," said Peter, "and we agreed that next bun-day we'd ask you if we could."

   • c. 1911, Cotton Mather, Worthington Chauncey Ford (editor), Diary of Cotton Mather, Volume 1: 1681-1708, footnote, page 1,

     It was his custom to begin a new year's record on February 12, his birthday.

   • 1921 June 4, Birthday Honours — Companions of Honour, in The Times,

     The King's Birthday, which occurred yesterday, will be officially observed to-day, and the customary list of honours conferred on the occasion is published.

2. The anniversary of the day on which something is created.
3. The date on which someone is born or something is created, more commonly called birthdate or date of birth.

Derived terms

Terms derived from birthday

• birthday attack
• birthday blues
• birthday boy
• birthday cake
• birthday card
• birthday effect

• birthday girl
• birthday honour
• birthday paradox
• birthday problem
• birthday suit

• birthday-suited
• half birthday
• happy birthday
• rebirthday
• unbirthday

Translations

anniversary

• Abenaki: piligadma
• Afrikaans: verjaarsdag
• Alabama: innìhta
• Albanian: ditëlindje (sq) f
• Amharic: ልደታ (ldäta), ልደት (ldät)
• Arabic: عِيدُ مِيلَادٍ‎‎ m (ʿīdu mīlādin)

  Egyptian Arabic: عيد ميلاد‎‎ m (ʿīd melad)

• Armenian: ծննդյան օր (cnndyan ōr), ծնունդ (hy) (cnund)
• Asturian: cumpleaños m
• Azerbaijani: ad günü
• Bambara: sanyɛlɛma
• Bashkir: тыуған көн (tïwğan kön)
• Basque: urtebetetze, urtemuga, egun (eu)
• Belarusian: дзень нараджэ́ння m (dzjenʹ naradžénnja)
• Bengali: জন্মদিন (jônmôdin)
• Bislama: betde
• Breton: deiz-ha-bloaz (br) m
• Bulgarian: рожде́н ден m (roždén den)
• Burmese: မွေးနေ့ (my) (mwe:ne.)
• Catalan: aniversari (ca) m, natalici (ca) m
• Cebuano: adlawng natawhan
• Chamicuro: ipenonasne watane
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 生日 (saang¹ jat⁶), 生辰 (saang¹ san⁴), 牛一 (ngau⁴ jat¹) (slang)

  Hakka: 生日 (sâng-ngit)

  Mandarin: 生日 (zh) (shēngrì), 生辰 (zh) (shēngchén)

  Min Dong: 生日 (săng-nĭk)

  Min Nan: 生日 (zh-min-nan) (seⁿ-ji̍t, siⁿ-ji̍t, seng-ji̍t)

  Wu: 生日 (san nyiq)

• Cornish: penn-bloodh m, pedn-bloodh m
• Corsican: anniversariu m
• Crimean Tatar: doğğan künü
• Czech: narozeniny (cs) f pl
• Danish: fødselsdag (da) c
• Dolgan: төрөөбүт күн (törööbüt kün)
• Dutch: verjaardag (nl) m
• Esperanto: naskiĝotago, naskotago (eo), naskiĝtago (eo)
• Estonian: sünnipäev (et)
• Faroese: føðingardagur m
• Fijian: sigaanisucu (fj), siganisucu
• Finnish: syntymäpäivä (fi), (informal) synttärit
• French: anniversaire (fr) m, (Canada) fête (fr) f
• Friulian: natalizi m
• Galician: aniversario (gl) m
• Georgian: დაბადების დღე (dabadebis dɣe)
• German: Geburtstag (de) m
• Greek: γενέθλια (el) (genéthlia)
• Gujarati: વરસ ગાનત (varas gānt)
• Haitian Creole: anivèsè
• Hawaiian: la hanau
• Hebrew: יום הולדת \ יוֹם הֻלֶּדֶת‎‎ (he) m (yóm hulédet)
• Hindi: जन्मदिन m (janmadin)
• Hungarian: születésnap (hu)
• Icelandic: afmælisdagur (is) m, fæðingardagur m
• Ido: naskodio (io)
• Indonesian: ulang tahun (id)
• Interlingua: die natal
• Interlingue: anniversarie
• Irish: lá breithe m, breithlá m
• Italian: compleanno (it) m
• Japanese: 誕生日 (ja) (たんじょうび, tanjōbi), バースデー (bāsudē), 生日 (ja) (せいじつ, seijitsu)
• Kannada: ಜನ್ಮದಿನ (kn) (janmadina)
• Karelian: roindupäivy
• Kazakh: туған күн (kk) (twğan kün)
• Khmer: ថ្ងៃខួប (thngay khuəp)
• Korean: 생일 (ko) (saeng-il) (生日 (ko)), 생신 (ko) (saengsin) (honorific)
• Kyrgyz: туулган күнү (tuulgan künü)
• Ladino: aniversario m, kumpleanyos m
• Lao: ມື້ເກີດ (mư̄ kœ̄t), ຊົນມະທິ (son ma thi), ວັນຄ້າຍວັນເກີດ (wan khāi wan kœ̄t), ວັນເກີດ (wan kœ̄t)
• Latin: dies natalis f pl, natalis (la) m
• Latvian: dzimšanas diena m

• Lithuanian: gimtadienis (lt) m
• Low German:

  Dutch Low Saxon: verjaordag

  German Low German: Geboortsdag (nds) m

• Luganda: amazalibwa
• Luxembourgish: Gebuertsdag (lb) m
• Lü: ᦞᧃᦵᦂᦲᧆᧉ (vank̇eiid²)
• Macedonian: роденден m (rodenden)
• Malay: hari lahir (ms)
• Maltese: għeluq snin
• Manx: laa ruggyree m
• Maori: rā huritau
• Marathi: वाट दिवस (vāṭ divas)
• Mongolian: төрсөн өдөр (törsön ödör)
• Navajo: hoʼdizhchínę́ęjį́ anáyííłką́
• Nepali: जन्मदिन (janmadina)
• Norman: jour de naissànse m (Guernsey)
• Northern Sami: riegádanbeaivi
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: bursdag (no) m, fødselsdag (no) m, gebursdag (no) m

  Nynorsk: bursdag (no) m, fødselsdag m, gebursdag m

• Occitan: aniversari m
• Old English: ġebyrddæġ m
• Oriya: ଜନ୍ମଦିନ (jônmôdinô)
• Persian: تولد‎‎ (fa) (tavallod)
• Piedmontese: compleani m, compleann m
• Polish: urodziny (pl) pl
• Portuguese: aniversário (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਜਨਮ-ਦਿਨ m (janma-din)
• Quechua: wata junt'ay
• Romanian: aniversare (ro), zi de naștere (ro)
• Romansch: anniversari m
• Russian: день рожде́ния (ru) m (denʹ roždénija), дню́ха (ru) f (dnjúxa) (slang)
• Rusyn: народени́ны f pl (narodenýnŷ)
• Rwanda-Rundi: isabukuru class 9/6
• Samoan: asofānau
• Sardinian: anniversariu m
• Saterland Frisian: Gebuursdai m
• Scottish Gaelic: co-latha breith m, là-breith m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рођендан m

  Roman: rođendan (sh) m

• Sinhalese: උපන් දිනය (upan dinaya)
• Slovak: narodeniny f pl
• Slovene: rojstni dan (sl) m
• Sorbian:

  High Sorbian: narodniny

  Low Sorbian: narodny źeń m, narodniny (pluralia tantum)

• Spanish: cumpleaños (es) m, natalicio (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: friyaridei
• Swahili: siku ya uzalishi
• Swedish: födelsedag (sv) c
• Tagalog: kaarawan
• Tajik: рӯзи таваллуд (rüzi tavallud), таваллуд (tg) (tavallud)
• Tamil: பிறந்தநாள் (ta) (piṟantanāḷ)
• Telugu: జన్మదినము (te) (janmadinamu)
• Thai: วันเกิด (th) (wan-gə̀ət)
• Turkish: doğum günü (tr)
• Turkmen: doglan güni
• Tuvan: төрүттүнген хүнү (törüttüngän hünü)
• Ukrainian: день наро́дження m (denʹ naródžennja)
• Urdu: سالگرہ‎‎ m (sālgirah)
• Uzbek: tugʻilan kun
• Venetian: compleano m
• Vietnamese: sinh nhật (vi) (生日)
• Volapük: motedadel (vo)
• Welsh: penblwydd m, pen-blwydd (cy) m
• West Flemish: verjaardag
• West Frisian: jierdei
• White Hmong: hnub yug
• Yiddish: געבוירן־טאָג‎‎ m (geboyrn-tog), געבורטסטאָג‎‎ m (geburtstog)
• Zulu: usuku lokuzalwa

date of birth

• Armenian: ծննդյան օր (cnndyan ōr)
• Bashkir: тыуған көн (tïwğan kön)
• Bengali: জন্মদিন (jônmôdin)
• Bulgarian: ден на раждане (den na raždane), дата на раждане (data na raždane), рождена дата (roždena data)
• Burmese: မွေးနေ့ (my) (mwe:ne.)
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 出生日期 (ceot¹ sang¹ jat⁶ kei⁴)

  Mandarin: 出生日期 (zh) (chūshēngrìqī)

• Czech: narozeniny (cs) f pl
• Danish: fødselsdag (da) c
• Dutch: geboortedag (nl) m, geboortedatum (nl) m
• Faroese: føðingardagur m
• Finnish: syntymäaika (fi), synnyinpäivä, syntymäpäivä (fi)
• French: date de naissance (fr) f
• Georgian: დაბადების თარიღი (dabadebis tariɣi)
• German: Geburtsdatum (de) n
• Greek: ημερομηνία γεννήσεως f (imerominía genníseos)
• Hungarian: születésnap (hu)
• Icelandic: fæðingardagur m, afmælisdagur (is) m
• Indonesian: hari lahir (id)
• Italian: data di nascita f
• Japanese: 生年月日 (せいねんがっぴ, seinengappi)
• Korean: 생년월일 (ko) (saengnyeonworil) (生年月日 (ko))
• Kyrgyz: чыккан күн (çıkkan kün) туулган күн (ky) (tuulgan kün)
• Latin: natalis (la) f, natalis (la) m

• Low German:

  German Low German: Geboortsdatum n

• Luxembourgish: Gebuertsdatum m
• Macedonian: датум на раѓање m (datum na raǵanje)
• Maltese: data ta' twelied f
• Maori: rā whānau
• North Frisian: iirdäi
• Norwegian: fødselsdag (no) m
• Polish: data urodzenia f
• Portuguese: data de nascimento f
• Romansch: di da naschientscha m, natalizi m
• Russian: да́та рожде́ния f (dáta roždénija), день рожде́ния (ru) m (denʹ roždénija)
• Rusyn: народени́ны f pl (narodenýnŷ)
• Scottish Gaelic: co-latha breith m, là-breith m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: дан рођења m, датум рођења m

  Roman: dan rođenja m, datum rođenja m

• Shor: шыққан кӱн
• Southern Altai: чыккан кӱн (čïkkan kün), туулан кӱн (tuulan kün)
• Spanish: fecha de nacimiento f
• Swedish: födelsedag (sv) c
• Tagalog: kaarawan
• Vietnamese: ngày sinh (vi)
• White Hmong: hnub yug

Verb

birthday (third-person singular simple present birthdays, present participle birthdaying, simple past and past participle birthdayed)

1. (intransitive, informal) To celebrate one's birthday.

See also

• name day
• deathday

Anagrams

• tharybid