Etymologically
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bedtime

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 31 October 2026 at 06:23. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • /ˈbɛdtaɪm/[1]

Etymology

It is a compound from English bed + time,[2][3][4][5] recorded in Middle English as bed-time.[6][2] The OED compares the isolated Old English beddtīd, formed with tīd, the ancestor of tide.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The time at which a person goes to bed: about 1275, in The Owl and the Nightingale.[2][6] Etymonline dates it to the early 13th century, as "the usual hour of going to rest".[3]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has barely changed:[2][3] Johnson (1755) defined it as "the hour of rest; sleeping time", quoting Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream on the long hours "between our after-supper and bedtime".[7] The OED now notes a specific use, often with a possessive, for the hour at which someone, especially a child, regularly goes to bed,[2] and the bedtime story told to a child is recorded from 1867.[3][4]

Timeline

  • c. 1275 – the time of going to bed, in The Owl and the Nightingale.[2]
  • 1867 – bedtime story.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The time at which someone usually goes to bed, especially a child: It's past your bedtime.[8][5][2]
  2. (as a modifier) Done or used at bedtime: a bedtime drink.[8][4]

Word family

  • bedtime story

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ a b Stratmann, Francis Henry (1891), A Middle-English Dictionary, revised by Henry Bradley, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins